The country has launched the new coverage as its latest step to overcome Western sanctions.
The European Union and the United States had placed sanctions against Iranian oil, including bans on coverage of oil tankers carrying crude from the country, but the nation is now expanding the protection that it is offering for these ships through the launch of its own international insurance company.
This insurer will be providing coverage for the tankers that transport Iran crude worldwide.
Rostam Qassemi, the Iranian Oil Minister, explained that the creation of its own international insurance company was the decision that made the most sense after the sanctions from other countries withdrew the protections that the tankers had when leaving its ports. He said that this was the “first step to confront the sanctions”.
The new international insurance company was created to minimize the impact of the sanctions.
The international insurance sanctions had been put into place by the E.U. this summer, when they banned the coverage of any tanker carrying Iranian oil, in order to pressure that country to cease its controversial nuclear program. Though the Middle Eastern nation insists that the program is for energy and peaceful purposes, only, the E.U. disagrees and feels that it is suspicious.
Domestic oil tankers had already been covered in the first wave of efforts to help reestablish the shipments after the sanctions kicked in. The managing director of Iranian Mualem Insurance Company explained that this company was a significant part of this effort. He added that the company was solely responsible for the delivery of the protection and indemnity coverage for the tankers.
Among the 25 different insurers that are trading in the country, it is that company that is the only one that is privately owned. All of the rest of the companies in the country are under government control.
The new international insurance company may help Iran to be able to sell to a larger number of countries and to increase the barrels per day sold to their existing customers around the world. It still has yet to be seen whether or not it will help to return its sales to the levels where they had been before the sanctions went into place.