Iran's energy sector review

As the current Iranian fiscal year is coming to a close and domestic needs for the U.S. dollar is at its peak point, the country’s currency and Tehran Stock Exchange indexes was strengthening until March16, but plunged again on Tuesday. Each USD sold below 33,000 rials March 16, about 3,000 rials less than last month. However, the rial dropped in value by 2.6 percent on Tuesday again. Rial strengthening against the dollar was quite an unexpected situation because on Iranian New Year’s Eve millions travel abroad, mostly to Turkey to mark the Nowruz holidays. The Iranian government might have ordered the Central Bank to issue a lot of USD to domestic markets, however Tehran Stock Exchange main index (TEPIX) which was around 64,000 point last month, rose to 65,000 points yesterday, but plunged again by 5.51 percent to 61,500 on March 17. The TEPIX plunged today after reinstituting shares of refineries and petrochemical plants in Stock Exchange after a year. These companies sh

As Iran's fiscal year nears its end next week, statistics announced by Iran's officials are making the country's gas production growth more transparent. Naser Ebrahimi, Director of Gas Distribution Department of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) told Shana March 16, Iran supplied 170.64 billion cubic meters (bcm) of the sweet gas to various sectors during the past 360 days. Iran announced on March 15 that currently about 583 mcm/d of gas went to housing, industrial and power sectors. So, it's expected that the country's total sweet gas consumption will stand at about 173.5 bcm/d during the current fiscal year, which ends on March 20. According to Ebrahimi's statement, the gas consumption in all sphere increased during the current year. Sweet gas consumption Current year bcm (360) Current year estimate for 365 days (bcm) Last year bcm Change Y/Y bcm Housing sector 89.28 91 88.9 2.1 Industrial sector 32 32.45 29.8