Royal Dutch Shell will implement the terms of a European Union embargo on Iranian crude but will need some time to study details of the sanctions which are likely to push oil prices higher, said chief executive Peter Voser.

'We are a European company and therefore we are affected by the sanctions and we will obviously oblige and implement the sanctions. I need to study all the details in order to see how it goes forward in the next few months,' Voser said at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday.

Asked by reporters who would benefit or lose from the EU measures against the Islamic Republic, Voser replied:

'From a pure commercial prospective, the losers are consumers because at the end of the day it gives us more volatility and upwards pressure on the oil price.'

Shell is one of the biggest consumers of Iranian crude oil, industry sources say, taking around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) into Europe and about the same quantity into Asia under a deal with Japanese company Showa Shell that expires in March.

Voser said he had 'spent quite a bit of time' with the head of state oil company Saudi Aramco, Khalid al-Falih, at the meeting of political and business leaders in Switzerland, but declined to say if he had asked Saudi Arabia to supply more oil to replace lost Iranian barrels.

'We have a great partnership with Saudi Aramco worldwide,' Voser said.-Reuters