Iran's energy sector review

An IAEA delegation group, headed by Deputy Director General of the agency Herman Nackaerts will begin its second visit in two months to Iran on Wednesday. IAEA delegation arrived in Tehran in early December 2012, but was not allowed to visit Parchin military complex where it is suspected that a nuclear-related test has been carried out. Shortly after, Iranian top officials announced several times that if Western countries recognize Iran's rights to continue uranium enrichment, Iran would allow Parchin to be inspected. Western countries don't reject Iran's right to have a peaceful nuclear program, their problem lies with worries about the program's probable military aspects. Iran's announced that preconditions for an inspection would be agreed upon at the end of negotiations (if not after), not at the beginning. Iran also is demanding the elimination of all of sanctions against the country as a precondition for an inspection of Parchin. The elimination ...

Iranian media outlets have reported contradictory information about drilling the second well of a gas field in the Caspian Sea which was reportedly discovered in December 2011. The Iranian Mehr News Agency reported on September 30, 2012 that the National Iranian Oil Company announced it had begun drilling a second exploratory oil well in the Caspian Sea's deep waters, while a week after this information, head of the Iran's North Drilling Company told Shana that the submersible Amir Kabir rig was moved to another place to drill a second exploratory well in the Sardar-e Jangal gas field in a month. On the other hand, a European top diplomat anonymously told Trend on Jan.14 that "according to satellite observations, the location of this rig (Amir Kabir) has not changed from December 2011 to December 2012 and no sign of thermal activity was observed above this rig during the aforementioned period". Iran claims the Sardar-e Jangal field's discovered oil a...

Iranian media outlets say citing some Iranian experts and officials' statements that the sulphur content in Iran-made gasoline is averaging from 180 to 1000 parts per million (ppm), while the quality of diesel offered at gas stations is even much worse than the gasoline, with its sulphur level from 7000 to 8000 ppm. The Iranian Oil Ministry had promised to improve the fuel quality to the Euro IV standard. Euro IV fuel standards permit 50 ppm of sulphur in gasoline and diesel. Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on Jan.9 that based on energy experts and a member of Tehran's Sharif University of Technology faculty staff that "the sulphur content of Iranian made gasoline and diesel is respectively 180 and 8000 ppm". On the other hand news website, Alef - linked to member of Parliament Ahmad Tavakoli reported citing on some experts and oil officials who preferred to talk anonymously, the offered gasoline and diesel in Iran contain 1000 ppm and 7000 ppm sulphu...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to recruit 500,000 new employees for government work, while seven months remain to the end of his presidency. Some 15,000 of them will be involved in organizations subordinate to the Iranian President's Administration. Currently, some 2.5 million people work in state organizations. According to the presidential administration's decision in June last year, the minimum wage of civil servants was set at 3,921,500 Rials ($ 320). The maximum wage is $2,240. When only taking into account the amount of minimum wage, attracting new 500,000 employees will cost Iran at least $2 billion annually. Taking into account the fact that new employees will be appointed at various positions, the state budget expenditure will be higher. For example, the wage costs for employees of state agencies hit some $28 billion during Iran's last year (ended on 2011, March 20). Taking into account that Iran's annual budget hit $461 billion, ...

My latest article published on Daily Azernews: Eight years have passed since the first announcement of the Iranian government about privatization of the state airline IranAir, with no progress achieved so far. Several similar announcements were made later and the latest one came about four months ago from IranAir Chairman Farhad Parvaresh, who said the state-run company would be privatized soon. So, why are there no potential buyers of the Iranian airline? IranAir with more than 10,000 employees has 51 aircraft in its fleet. Iran has 25 U.S. manufactured Boeing aircraft, 18 of which belong to IranAir, and most of the airline's airplanes are becoming obsolete and outdated. This is the cause of the EU having banned the operation of some Iranian aircraft in the EU. There are also 13 private airlines in Iran, with 10 of them operating at a permanent loss, according to the head of the state-run Iran Airports Company Mahmoud Rasoulinejad's statement published by Fars New...

The growth of gasoline and diesel fuel smuggling in Iran has led to discussions related to another increase in energy prices in the country. Iran's parliament imposed a ban on the implementation of the second phase of the plan to abolish state subsidies for energy sources. The first phase of the plan to abolish the subsidies was carried out in December of 2010. Some 450,000 rials ($15 at market rate) are transferred each month to the bank account of each person as compensation under this phase. Currently, 1,000 cubic meters of gas cost 700,000 Rials in Iran, while a liter of gasoline sold by quota - three thousand rials, a liter of gasoline sold without a quota - seven thousand rials, a liter of diesel fuel sold by quota of 1500 rials, a liter of diesel sold without a quota is 3,500 rials. The market rate of dollar in Iran today stands at over 30,000 Rials. Thus, the price for gas, gasoline and diesel fuel on the free market in Iran, are respectively 18.73, 11.5 and 20.6 ...

Iranian president's famous slang words during the presidential elections in 2005 were fighting against monopoly, corruption and putting petrodollars on people's tables. He claimed as having a list of "a major corruption list" in his pocket and has repeated this claim several times so far without revealing any report or submitting the list to the Judiciary System. Now, after seven and a half years under his two term presidency, Ahmadinejad said during a live interview on state TV on Dec.22, that 60 per cent of the country's financial assets are in the hands of 300 people, who got a huge amount in loans from banks and deny paying off their debts because they enjoy "hidden hands of support". Now, Iran's Prosecutor General Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Tuesday that the Judiciary System has three times requested from Ahmadinejad the list of those who have above 10 billion rials in value delayed loads to the banks, but Ahmadinejad hasn...