BP’s Svanberg Sees No Need for EU to Tap Oil Reserve This Year

BP Plc (BP/) Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said he sees no need for European countries to tap strategic oil reserves this year, after an embargo cuts off supplies from Iran at mid-year.

“Generally the industry, including all the oil-producing nations, has shown the capability of adjusting for moments of up and down and I think that’s what you’re going to see this time as well,” Svanberg said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland.

The 27-nation EU decided three days ago to ban imports of Iranian oil as of July 1 because of concerns that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The five-month phase-in, during which existing contracts are allowed to continue, is meant to give member states such as Greece that are relatively dependent on Iranian oil time to find alternative sources of supply.

Earlier today, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in an interview that Europe “has storage capacities” and tapping them was “feasible.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Davos, Switzerland at asalha@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net