Russia optimistic about planned 'oil for goods' deal with Iran despite cheap oil - diplomat
MOSCOW. Feb 9 (Interfax) - Low global oil prices are an obstacle to a planned Russian-Iranian "oil for goods" deal but Russia still hopes the bargain will materialize, according to the Russian ambassador in Tehran.
"The decrease in global oil prices has given rise to some difficulties for these agreements to be put into practice," Levan Dzhagaryan told Interfax. "Nevertheless, we are optimistic about the future and hope the efforts of specialists in our two countries will enable us to make some progress toward that goal."
Dzhagaryan said work on the planned agreement is going on at expert levels. "There are points that need more detailed work on them," he said.
In August 2014, Russia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on a plan to boost their trade and economic cooperation under what has been dubbed an "oil for goods" deal in both Russian and Iranian business circles. Iran would use revenues from oil sales to Russia to buy goods in Russia that it needs.