TEHRAN, Feb. 13 (Shana) -- Iran says it has loaded 4 million barrels of crude oil on tankers headed for European destinations.

Roknoddin Javadi, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Company NIOC), told Shana that the tankers will start their within the next 24 hours.
"2mb of the cargo has been purchased by France's Total and the rest is purchased by two companies from Russia and Spain," said Javadi.

He said the Russian company is transferring Iran's crude oil to its refineries in Romania for processing.
Iran has repeatedly said it can raise its crude oil exports by at least a million barrels per day within 6 months after the removal of US-led sanctions on Tehran's nuclear programs.

Following a visit from Italy and France in a high-profile business delegation headed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh told Shana he had signed a deal with Total to sell the company 160,000 b/d of crude oil.
He also named Eni and Saras as Iran's traditional crude oil customers.

By SHANA