Business Live - NITC, Iran’s leading oil tanker operator, said on Monday that its shipments to Europe were increasing daily and the company planned to upgrade its fleet to support expansion.

International sanctions on Iran were lifted in January 2016.

Mohammad Reza Shams Dolatabadi, NITC’s head of international affairs, said on the sidelines of an energy industry conference in Istanbul that the firm aimed to replace some older tankers with new vessels.

"We have a plan for the renovation of our fleet and to buy new vessels. We’ll scrap some of our old vessels, but we will not change our capacity," he said.

"We have a [renovation] plan for five years, but [we are] still working to finalise that."

NITC’s operations were hampered previously because of its difficulty in securing global insurance cover for the fleet and getting certification of the seaworthiness of ships, which is required for access to many ports around the world.

Iran has steadily reconnected with buyers across Europe since sanctions were lifted and NITC expects to play a bigger role.

"We were active during the sanctions era in the Asian market, but we have started since 2016 to return to the European market as well," Dolatabadi said.

"Our ships are calling at many European ports, and the number of these shipments is rising day by day."

He said the company planned to acquire liquefied natural gas tankers, marking a new direction for the company. "We are thinking of [a liquefied natural gas] fleet in the future.

"Iran has the largest gas reserves in the world. There are plans for production of liquefied gas in the future.

"So due to that, we are thinking about playing a part in the shipment of this product in the future. [It will come along] in the mid-term, three to five years," Dolatabadi said.