Iran discouraging foreign action in oil

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TEHRAN, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Iranian companies with contracts in the domestic energy sector are called on to get more of their materials from Iranian sources, a director said.

Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Co. Ahmad Qalebani said oil industry contractors are prohibited from getting items from foreign companies that are otherwise available from the domestic market.

"Eighty percent of the items used in the oil industry are being produced at home and the remainder are those commodities, where enough capacity has not been built for their production inside the country, are being imported due to time limits," he told the Oil Ministry's news agency, SHANA.

Qalebani said that, with sanctions tightening on the Iranian banking sector, contractors should be using more domestically made commodities.

Iranian Vice President for Legal Affairs Fatemeh Bodaqi said last week that Tehran was considering a legal challenge to the latest sanctions imposed by the European Union.

The European Union banned imports of natural gas from Iran to address concerns about the Iranian nuclear program. Additional measures targeted the Central Bank of Iran as well as oil, gas and petrochemical industries.