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Showing posts from June 14, 2015

Why did Iran's energy consumption double in a decade?

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Iran has had one of the most accelerating energy consumption rates in the world, despite very slow economy growth during last decade, but what is the reason? A statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy says Iran consumed almost 244 million tons oil equivalent (OE) of primary energy in 2013. Of course, the U.S. energy Information Administration's (EIA) report, released June 19 covers the figures until 2013, but the official Iranian statistics indicate that the country's primary energy consumption exceeded 270 million tons OE (or 2 billion barrels OE) until March 2015. Natural gas and oil accounted for almost all (98%) of Iran's total primary energy consumption, with marginal contributions from hydropower, coal, nuclear, and non-hydro renewables. The EIA says that Iran's primary energy consumption has grown by almost 50% since 2004. Iran's power sector IEA says Iran generated almost 224 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh - unit for

Iran's blocked assets in UAE- $5 B or $40 B?

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A month after Iran's parliament got involved in a investigation case over $5.3 billion of blocked oil assets in the United Arab Emirates, a top official says new blocked assets in the UAE were revealed to be worth $35 billion. The strangest issue is that Iran doesn't know whether the blocked assets still remain or not. Akbar Torkan, a senior advisor to Iran 's President Hassan Rouhani, announced on June 16 that an outstanding debt of $35 billion has been discovered and a lawmaker announced on June 18 that traces of this amount was found in the UAE. Torkan said the sum is part of the previous administration’s debts to the Central Bank of Iran and the facility was credited to NICO, an affiliate of the National Iranian Oil Company. NICO (Naftiran Intertrade Company) is a Swiss-based Iranian company. It is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry and buys the vast majority of Iran 's gasoline imports. It is a key player in Iran 's energy sector.