CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday he will soon visit Iran to finalize new agreements on cooperation with the Middle Eastern country, which has become Venezuela’s top ally in boosting oil output amid US sanctions.
Venezuela and Iran have strengthened their ties since last year.
Maduro’s government has received vital equipment for its oil industry from Iran, which in return has received crude and other primary resources from the South American country. Iran has been crucial for Venezuela’s rising oil production in 2021.
“I am going to Teheran very soon, for a visit that President (Ebrahim) Raisi offered me, so that we meet in person, to hold conversations and sign new agreements ... and speed up processes of cooperation,” Maduro said during an interview with satellite news broadcaster Al Mayadeen in Spanish, which was later broadcast on Venezuelan state television.
Maduro said he has had two telephone conversations with Iran’s president, adding that they have agreed to work on new plans, without providing details. He also did not give a date for the visit but described the two countries as “fighters.”
In 2022, Venezuela will also look to reactivate means of cooperation with Arab countries, Maduro added, saying that “they love us in the Arab world, I know that Arab governments and peoples love Venezuela.”
The tightening of US sanctions since 2019 has affected Venezuela’s ability to sell crude and import fuel, which has exacerbated gasoline shortages across the country.
Venezuela’s President Maduro to visit Iran ‘very soon’
https://arab.news/7mcr5
Venezuela’s President Maduro to visit Iran ‘very soon’
- Says he will finalize plans he and Iran President Ebrahim Raisi had agreed upon by phone
Kazakhstan urges US and Europe to help secure oil transport after tanker attacks in Black Sea
- Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said three tankers were hit en route to the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium
- Russian defense ministry said Matilda tanker came under attack by two Ukrainian strike drones
MOSCOW: Kazakhstan on Wednesday urged the US and Europe to help secure the transport of oil following drone attacks on tankers heading to a Black Sea terminal on the Russian coast which handles one percent of global supply.
Unidentified drones struck at least two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by US oil major Chevron, as they sailed toward a terminal on the Russian coast to load oil from Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that three tankers were hit en route to the marine terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in the Black Sea. On November 29, drones also attacked CPC’s exporting equipment, resulting in a fall in oil exports via the outlet.
“The increasing frequency of such incidents highlights the growing risks to the functioning of international energy infrastructure,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We therefore call upon our partners to engage in close cooperation to develop joint measures aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future,” it added.
Russian defense ministry said on Wednesday that the Matilda tanker, sailing under the Maltese flag, came under attack by two Ukrainian strike drones at a distance of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the city of Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
Ukraine did not comment on the incident.
Shareholders in CPC’s 1,500-km (930-mile) pipeline include Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil company KazMunayGas, Russia’s Lukoil and units of US oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil.
Russian terminals on the Black Sea handle more than 2 percent of global crude. Its waters, which are shared by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Turkiye, as well as Russia and Ukraine, are also crucial for the shipment of grain.
CPC alone accounts for around 80 percent of oil exports from Kazakhstan.
