Shell To Restart Purchase Of Crude From Iran After Total

A Reuters' report that Europe’s largest energy producer Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) plc RDS.A has decided to restart buying Iranian crude is now grabbing attention. Notably, Shell is the second leading energy player after Total S.A. (TO:TOT) to recommence trade with Iran since the country came out of sanctions.

In January, the nuclear agreement between Iran and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the EU was concluded. This substantially reduced the country’s nuclear capability. With the conclusion, the international sanctions were lifted after watchdogs confirmed that the country had complied with the Jul 2015 nuclear deal.

As expected, since the sanction has been lifted, Iran has been trying to regain its lost market share. Other than catering to contracts from Shell and Total, Iranian crude has penetrated into other European markets like Spain, Greece and Italy. With these efforts, the country has now started exporting oil almost at a pre-sanction mark of about 2.5 million barrels each day.

Coming back to the news, Shell will likely bring 130,000 tons of Iranian oil through the Suezmax vessel Delta Hellas – a crude oil tanker – to Europe from Kharg Island next month. It is expected that Shell, which has been renewing ties with Iran, will continue purchasing oil from the country in the future to.

Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Shell is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. It has interests in chemicals as well as in power generation and renewable energy.

Shell currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which implies that the stock will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.

Some better-ranked players in the same space are Braskem SA (NYSE:BAK) , PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE:PTR) and Sasol Ltd. (NYSE:SSL) . Braskem sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while PetroChina and Sasol carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).


PETROCHINA ADR (PTR): Free Stock Analysis Report

TOTAL FINA SA (TOT): Free Stock Analysis Report

ROYAL DTCH SH-A (RDS.A): Free Stock Analysis Report

SASOL LTD -ADR (SSL): Free Stock Analysis Report

BRASKEM SA (BAK): Free Stock Analysis Report

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