TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (MNA) � Oil minister�s international deputy has said negotiations with Hungary to have the country as new oil customer through Italian Saras have been started.Seyed Mohsen Qamsari told reporters on Monday that Hungary had been only one of the many companies in the queue for buying oil from Iran. He rejected the media reports about alleged discounts by Iran provided for new customers as inaccurate; �Iran will provide oil to customers on official OPEC basket prices and no discount would be available,� he said. The reports speculated that discount by Iran would even surpass that of Saudi Arabia.

Qamsari also said that Iran�s deals to sell oil to French Total, Russian, and Spanish refineries had been secured; �with Italian Saras, negotiations had been on last week and with Eni, we will embark on negotiation as well soon,� he revealed.

Roknoddin Javadi, Deputy-Oil Minister had told reporters on Sunday that Iran had signed a long-term deal with French Total; �in the first month after removal of sanctions, Iran raised its oil production 400,000 barrels per day,� he was quoted as saying.

In another economic event yet, reports said that Iran and Germany had signed an MoU on shipping. Chair of Board of Directors and Managing Director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) had signed the MoU in Hamburg with the owners of shipping company PWL, according to which a package of services would be provided to the trade shipping fleet and the affiliated units in a number of European ports such as those in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The joint venture will start March 2016. With services focused primarily in JV Shipping Co., the speed and quality of services for customers of both sides will be greatly improved.

By Mehr News Agency