Iran finally accepts oil export drop
Although the Iranian authorities have several times rejected the idea that oil exports have dropped, Vice Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar have finally announced that oil exports have dropped to around 1 million barrels per day (bpd) during first half of solar year (started on March 19) averagely, while this figure for June and July has fallen to around 800,000 barrels per day. Earlier, US Treasury Department announced that Iran is losing monthly $5 billion in oil revenues due to western sanctions and restrictions over its oil export and banking system. Iran's oil export during last year was 2.3 million barrels per day and according to OPEC statistics it gained about $110 billion in 2011 from oil crude export. Bahonar said that Iran's budget bill for current solar year was approved at $5, 660 trillion rials (about $449 billion), but only 1000 trillion rials of that has been realized during six months of current solar year. This means, about 20 percent of