Italy's Saras says it will clear Iranian oil debt in 2017
(Reuters) Italian oil refiner Saras has paid $177 MM of the debt it owes Iran for crude oil bought before sanctions were imposed and its chief financial officer said the total debt to Tehran will be cleared next year.
Analysts have estimated the company's Iranian debt at about $385 MM and the company said it paid $55 MM in 2Q and $120 MM in 3Q.
"A further $120 MM will be paid by year-end," CFO Franco Balsamo told analysts in a conference call on Monday's third-quarter results. "The rest will be paid in 2017."
International financial sanctions on Iran were lifted in January, though banking ties remain restricted.
Saras, which is partly owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft , used to take a significant part of its feedstock from Iran before the embargo.
The company reported third-quarter core earnings of $110 MM, below a company-supplied consensus forecast of $145 MM.
General Manager Dario Scaffardi said the worse than expected result was because the company had opted to stockpile gasoil for sale in the fourth quarter when it expects prices to be higher.
"October was extremely positive and November has started with a bang," Scaffardi said. "All in all I'm pretty positive on the latter part of the year."
Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; Editing by David Goodman
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