TEHRAN (FNA)- Director of International Affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Mohsen Qamsari announced that Royal Dutch Shell company has bought the first consignment of crude from Iran.

"Shell purchased Iran's first oil consignment and negotiations are still underway with other major oil companies to sell Iran's crude," Qamsari said.

He underlined that Shell is due to load 130,000 tons of crude in Iran's Kharg oil terminal.

Shell has fixed Suezmax tanker Delta Hellas to bring 130,000 tons of Iranian crude from Kharg Island to continental Europe on July 8. The cargo would unload in Rotterdam, sources said.

The Royal Dutch Shell company was involved in the development of Iran�s Soroush and Norouz oil fields in Persian Gulf waters.

Iran had earlier announced that Shell would have to clear its debts for previous purchases of oil for the new orders to be proceeded.� In April, the country said debts that amounted to above $1.7 billion had been cleared.

The outstanding debt to Iran was a result of Iranian oil deliveries which Shell had been unable to pay for due to sanctions

The Anglo-Dutch company resumed talks with Tehran on the debt after most Western sanctions were lifted in January. The payments were made over the next few weeks after the removal of the sanctions in euros as dollar transactions are still under US sanctions.

By Fars News Agency