Europe needs to use its diplomatic clout with the US to limit the impact of renewed sanctions against Iran, Claudio Descalzi, the head of one of the continent's largest buyers of Iranian oil, Eni, has said.
Calls for US "ally" Europe to use "diplomacy"
Warns uncertainty bad for investment decisions
Cites double pressure of Russia, Iran sanctions
In a weekend interview with cable TV channel CNBC Descalzi suggested he supported moves by some European politicians to get the US to soften the impact of President Donald Trump's decision to exit the 2016 nuclear deal with Tehran and limit Iran's exports.
Some European officials, including EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reacted furiously to Trump's decision to pull out of the deal last week, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and there has been discussion of seeking various types of exemption.
Descalzi also warned that despite higher oil prices, stoked by tensions in the Middle East, geopolitical uncertainty was a deterrent to the industry's willingness to take investment decisions.
He urged Europe to draw on its deep ties with the US as the continent faces knock-on effects from sanctions against both Iran and Russia.
"I think diplomacy can find some solution because in any case Europe is the strongest ally of the US and the main impact of the Iranian sanctions is going to Europe. As the impact of the Russian sanctions is going to hit Europe, so we have a double effect," Descalzi said.
"Sooner or later some discussion has to take place seriously."
Eni is one of Europe's largest buyers of Iranian crude oil. The company carried out a study last year of Iran's Kish offshore field and Darquian onshore field with a view to potential investment. But Descalzi Sunday again played down his interest in investing, having already criticized the terms Iran was offering.
"We don't have investment [in Iran]. The impact is more for the crude oil price. Iran is exporting around 2.6 million b/d," he said, estimating that the US decision could remove 1 million b/d of oil from the market.
In combination with Venezuela's crisis, "When we have this kind of disruption the landscape becomes uncertain. For energy, you have to make a lot of big investments and when there is a lot of uncertainties, investment is not easy."
IRAN SEEKS SUPPORTERS
The comments come as Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made an international tour -- concluding Brussels -- to try to stiffen opposition to Trump's decision.
On Sunday Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at a meeting with Zarif that Beijing would "continue its efforts to uphold the Iran nuclear deal in an objective, just and responsible manner."
As Zarif met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said they would discuss rallying opposition to the renewed sanctions together with China and Europe, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Some experts have said the EU could implement so-called 'blocking sanctions' making it legal for European companies to defy the US sanctions, along the lines of similar measures in the 1990s when the EU dissented from sanctions against Cuba and Iran.
But the dependence of much international energy trading on the US banking system is widely seen as likely to undermine any such counter-sanctions by the EU.
