Tehran (Platts)--2Jul2012/850 am EDT/1250 GMT

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi Monday appointed OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi his adviser for hydrocarbon marketing, an unusual move that came as Iran is grappling to cope with the impact on oil exports of US sanctions and an EU import ban that came into effect on Sunday.

"Given your commitment and valuable experience and expertise, you are appointed...adviser to the minister for the purchase and sale of hydrocarbons," Ghasemi said in a decree published on oil ministry news service Shana.

According to the decree, Khatibi, will retain his position as OPEC governor, a position he has held since May 2008.

Before his appointment to the key role in OPEC, Khatibi was deputy director of the National Iranian Oil Company for marketing and served for 15 years as part of a team of OPEC experts at the Tehran-based Institute for International Energy Studies.

It was not immediately clear what impact Khatibi's additional role as adviser would have on NIOC's operations, where oil transactions are handled by the international affairs department headed by Mohsen Qamsari.

There have been rumors in local media that the oil minister, said to be at odds with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies and appointments, is planning to make changes to senior positions within the oil ministry and NIOC, including replacing managing director Ahmed Ghalehbani.

Ghalehbani has in recent weeks spoken candidly about the impact of international sanctions on Iranian oil exports, which account for more than half of total state revenues.

EU sanctions, which ban the import of Iranian crude oil by the 27 members of the European Union, came into effect fully on Sunday, July 1 but have already had an impact since they were agreed on January 23 as refiners in Europe reduced their purchases in anticipation of the ban.

Ghalehbani said Sunday that European sales, accounting for 20-30% of total Iranian exports, had been halted. Speaking in Moscow last week, he put Iranian oil exports in the last Iranian year, which ended on March 20, at 2.28 million b/d. He gave no current figures or comparisons with the previous year.

The International Energy Agency estimated on June 13 that oil importing countries had bought nearly 1 million b/d less crude from Iran in April and May than in late 2011 as a result of the tightening sanctions.

--For a major news feature on how US and EU sanctions against Iran are changing the global oil supply landscape please go to http://plts.co/iran2012

--Aresu Eqbali, newsdesk@platts.com
--Kate Dourian, kate_dourian@plats.com
--Edited by Maurice Geller, maurice_geller@platts.com

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