Iran is however continuing to grow its market share in Europe. Last week, the National Iranian Oil Company said it is in the final phase of negotiations with Austrian refiner OMV to sign a term contract that will involve the sale of 40,000 b/d. U.S. sanctions on the Iranian energy sector begin next week, threatening to cause further tightness in the global market for crude oil. The U.S. on Friday, however, announced that it plans to allow some countries to continuing buying oil from Iran, feeding anxiety over a potential oversupply. In terms of crude oil production the Middle East is the market leader with Saudi Arabia producing the most crude. The Europe and Eurasian region closely follows with the Russian Federation as one of the major contributors.