Tehran, March 27 (IANS): Iran has sold 14 million barrels of crude oil to European countries since the international sanctions were lifted in January, authorities said on Sunday.

According to Shana, the Iranian Petro Energy Information Network, the purchases, which are seeking to overcome existing financial, legal and logistical obstacles, have been led by France's Total, Spain's Cepsa and Russia's Litasco, EFE news reported.

The French oil company has bought 11 million barrels, while the Spanish and Russian ones have bought 2 million and 1 million barrels respectively.

Before imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, Europe -- particularly the southern Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain -- used to import around 800,000 crude barrels from the Islamic Republic daily.

During this period, Iran exported about 2 million barrels of oil a day, most of them to Asian countries.

In the past two months, Iran has increased its exports to reach 2.2 million barrels per day.