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February 10, 2006

IEA Ready To Compensate Iran's Cut In Oil Export

Topics: Iran

Should the United Nations levy sanctions on Iran over its nuclear research program and Iran elects to cut it's oil export, it appears that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's belief that the West needs him and he doesn't need the West, is just a day dream, simply more pompous rhetoric - thanks to an international agency that I didn't even know existed, but am damned glad that it does. It appears that Ahmadinjad's threat to retaliate by suspending oil supply just got trumped by the International Energy Agency to the tune of four billion barrels of crude oil in reserve - enough to compensate an eventual loss in Iran's oil exports for a year and a half:

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday that thanks to the strategic stocks managed by the IEA, it could compensate an eventual loss in Iran's oil exports for one year and a half.

"If ever, for whatever reason, there was a loss of supplies from Iran, which represent around 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd), strategic stocks managed by the IEA ... would be able to compensate for those lost 2.7 million bpd for a year and a half," IEA's executive director Claude Mandil told French BFM radio.

"I therefore say to countries mandated to negotiate with Iran, I do not know what your plans are, but when you consider the different options, you do not have to worry about an eventual loss of Iranian oil because you have the means to deal with it," he said, noting "there is no link between the oil and the nuclear issue".

The 26-member IEA, created in November 1974 amid an energy crisis in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur war, seeks to coordinate and monitor energy policies in its members.

There's something about the ring of the statement, "I therefore say to countries mandated to negotiate with Iran, I do not know what your plans are, but when you consider the different options, you do not have to worry about an eventual loss of Iranian oil because you have the means to deal with it," that warms my heart. It has to do with the "different options" part of the statement, meaning - the trump card is held by the West, not Iran.

Posted by Richard at February 10, 2006 6:47 AM

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