TEHRAN (Commodity Online): Global leader in petroleum and energy sector, Royal Dutch Shell has created turbulences of debate among the global energy industry as the company has moved back into the Iranian energy sector even as the country continues to face new sanctions from the Western countries and the United Nations.

The reports suggested that the oil major had delivered three shipments containing around 30,000 tonnes of gasoline each to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in May. This followed in the wake of the fact that Shell had stopped oil supplies to Iran since October last year, joining the global campaign to impose stricter sanctions on the resource-rich country.

Shell, Swiss oil trading giant Vitol, BP and India’s Reliance Industries had announced in March that they would stop dealing with Iran, which is believed to have come on the behest of US pressure over Iran's controversial nuclear proliferation activity.

The United States has made a provision in a bill, named The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009, to punish those companies and individuals assisting Iran in its petroleum sector. This bill has been considered to be an extension of US economic sanctions on Iran.

As early as in 2002, Shell had expressed interest for developing the South Pars’ gas field in the Persian Gulf. The company had joined hands with Spain’s Repsol and signed a deal with the National Iranian Oil Company. However, owing to the political pressures, Shell had been delaying the decision on its investments in the country. Iran, after years of lingering around, gave a specific time frame to the two companies and later stopped the talks with these firms and appointed local firm, Khatam al-Anbiya a company owned by the Revolutionary Guard.

According to an estimate, the stricter sanctions on the petroleum companies would hurt businesses worth more than $20 million in the Iranian energy sector. (with inputs from Officialwire.com)

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