TEHRAN, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran is ready to sign deals with the other Caspian Sea littoral states to swap their oil, official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
Iran could transfer 500,000 barrels of oil from the Caspian Sea on the daily basis, Hamid Hosseini, an official with Iranian Oil Pipeline and Telecommunication Company, was quoted as saying.
The imported crude oil from the Caspian Sea countries is discharged at Iran's Neka Terminal on the Caspian Sea coast and then transferred to Tehran via a 32-inch pipeline, Hosseini said.
The 272-kilometer-long pipeline has been constructed in northern Iran to transfer crude oil from Neka to Tehran, Hosseini added.
On Aug. 12, Iran's oil swap in the Caspian Sea resumed following seven years of suspension, Tehran Times daily reported.
Under the swap deals, Iran imports oil from the other Caspian Sea littoral states for its own use, and delivers crude of the same amount and quality to international customers of Caspian oil suppliers at its southern oil terminals in the Persian Gulf region.
