TEHRAN, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran has turned to customers in Europe to shore up its crude oil exports, Financial Tribune daily reported on Wednesday.
Iran is in negotiations to secure new buyers in Europe, Iran's first deputy Petroleum Minister, Marzieh Shahdaei, was quoted as saying.
"Our approach is to raise oil exports to European countries," Shahdaei said, adding that "some of our customers in Asia have reduced imports, but that does not undermine Iran's crude exports."
India has persistently cut imports in recent months in retaliation for Tehran's hesitation to hand over an offshore gas project to Indian companies.
India's oil imports from Iran declined by about two-fifths from a year ago to 467,600 barrels per day (bpd) in October.
Currently, Iran's export of crude oil and condensate stands at 2.6 million bpd, nearly 40 percent of which are sent to Europe, according to officials at government data.
Refiners in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Turkey are the biggest customers of Iranian crude in Europe.
"As negotiations with European countries bear fruit, the share of Europeans from Iran's oil exports will rise," Shahdaei said.
