IRAN - Iran’s Petroleum Minister Javad Owji has met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and discussed ways to expand energy cooperation between the two countries.
In a Twitter post, Maduro described the meeting as “productive”, which he said was aimed to “deepen the ties of brotherhood and cooperation (with Iran), (especially) in energy matters”.
Owji, heading a high-level delegation of more than a dozen officials, arrived in Caracas on Saturday in a visit deemed significant for Iran-Venezuela relations and efforts to neutralize the impact of U.S. sanctions.
Earlier on Monday, Owji met his Venezuelan counterpart Tareck El Aissami to discuss ways to “overcome” the effects of harsh sanctions imposed on both the countries by the United States.
A statement by the Venezuelan oil ministry said the two officials discussed “the construction of routes and mechanisms to overcome the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the U.S. government and allied countries”.
Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying that Owji was set to sign a series of energy cooperation deals with Caracas on Monday.
The report said Owji visited the Paraguana refining complex in western Venezuela with Asdrúbal Chávez, the head of Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company, Petróleos de Venezuela PDVSA.
Venezuela and Iran, both under illegal US sanctions, have bolstered their energy cooperation in recent years, with Tehran going out of its way to help the South American country.
Iran Exported $2.3bn of Gasoline

Iran exported nearly $2.3 billion worth of gasoline in more than 19 months to March 2021 despite sanctions imposed by the United States.
Head of Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) Ali Naghavi said that the commodity market had started trading Iranian Oil Ministry’s gasoline shipments for a first time in late August 2019.
Naghavi said gasoline shipments sold to foreign customers through IRENEX had reached more than 2 million metric tons (mt) over the year to March 2020.
He said the volume increased by over four times in the year to March 2021, adding that Iran had earned nearly $2.3 billion for exports of more than 10 million mt of gasoline in the 19 months to March 2021.
However, Iran decided to stop gasoline exports through IRENEX in May 2021 to respond to a rising domestic demand for the fuel, said the official.
Iran was a net importer of gasoline over e decade ago when the country decided to reach self-sufficiency in the production of the fuel to neutralize foreign sanctions that hampered its access to overseas supplies.
Lucrative exports of gasoline from Iran over the past few years came when the country’s oil and gas sector was grappling with a new round of American sanctions.
Demand for gasoline dropped to historic lows in Iran in late 2019 when the country imposed price hikes and quotas to battle the economic impacts of the sanctions.
Recent government figures suggest demand for gasoline has bounced back to above 100 million liters per day amid more easing of coronavirus restrictions in Iran.