Iran's energy sector review

Aside from threats over Iran's yearly budget law based on $100/barrel of crude oil, the country may encounter another blow from low oil price - to its petrochemical sector. The $100 oil price has both direct effect and indirect damage on Iran's petrochemical sector, by declining its shares value at stock markets. Iran's petrochemical industry accounts to 40-42 percent of the country's total capital market. Capital markets are financial markets for the buying and selling of long-term debt or equity-backed securities. The huge share of petrochemical industry in Iran's $156-billion worth capital market (1 USD/31,000 rials, based on open market exchange rate) demonstrates the importance of petrochemical industry in Iran's economy. During the current year Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), the petrochemical units faced an index drop at the capital market, due to uncertainty in getting the crude oil and gas price set for them by the government.

Despite a 32-percent increase in gas delivery to power plants in warm seasons, Iran expects this figure to decline by 3.5 times in fall and winter due to projected soar in housing gas consumption. Iran's natural gas consumption in housing sector soared to 220 million cubic meters per day (mcmpd) during last week, 30 mcmpd more than the previous week due to reaching cold season and declining the air temperatures by 15 degrees. Iran's gas consumption level in winter is expected to surpass 450 mcmpd. Last winter, during some weeks, Iran's housing gas consumption reached about 500 mcmpd, which led to cutting gas delivery to power plants, petrochemical units, gas injection to old oil fields and industrial sector, due to gas shortage. In addition to cutting gas supplies to power plants, which led to burning $30 billion of liquid fuels, the Iranian government had to decrease gas delivery to petrochemical plants from 35 mcmpd in summer to 15 mcmpd in winter. This caused

After four years, in early 2014 Iran has implemented early gas production from the biggest phase of giant South Pars gas field and prepares to double the production in the next couple of months. The Islamic Republic also plans to implement early gas production at other phases in the near future. The giant South Pars gas field which counts above 40 percent of the country's gas production is the world's biggest gas field with above 33 trillion cubic meters (cm) of reserves. It's a joint field between Iran and Qatar . Until 2009, Iran inaugurated 10 of 28 phases of South Pars, producing about 290 million cubic meters per day (mcmpd) of gross natural gas, but the figure increased by 12 mcmpd in early 2014 by implementation of 12 phase, the field's biggest phase. Iran boosted the gas output by launching the first platform (12A) to 25 mcmpd in July. Rokaneddin Javadi the managing director of National Iranian Oil Company told IRNA on Oct.20 that another two