Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh discussed the prospect of exporting oil to Mongolia with the country’s foreign minister Lundeg Purevsuren in a meeting in Tehran on Thursday.
“Mongolia is interested in buying Iranian crude, but it does not have access to international waters,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Shana.
“The only way to supply oil to Mongolia is through China … If the two countries reach an agreement, Iran will be ready to start shipments,” he said.
Zanganeh added that Tehran is willing to start a short-term oil-related training course in Mongolia’s capital and largest city Ulaanbaatar.
With a population of around 3 million, Mongolia is a landlocked state that borders China in the south and Russia in the north whose oil demand is estimated at 50,000-60,000 barrels a day.
Mongolia imports nearly all of its refined oil products from Russia and is often challenged by supply shortages.
It is an agriculture-based economy with largely underdeveloped mineral deposits and hydrocarbon reserves. The country’s oil blocks hold an estimated 272 million tons of proven reserves.
Mongolia is an oil producing country, although with markedly little output. Since petroleum production started in 1998, nearly 11 million barrels of oil have been produced in total, of which 9.8 million barrels have been exported to China for refining since Mongolia does not have a refinery.
Iran has made it clear it will raise crude production by 500,000 barrels a day within a week after the removal of sanctions and looks set to diversify its oil market to make room for its additional oil, once sanctions are lifted.
