Iran's energy sector review

The price of oil has dropped 50 percent compared to the first half of the past year. The fall in the oil price has even been more in OPEC's basket, which plunged by 60 percent, mostly because the 12 members of OPEC are producing 1.3 million barrels of oil per day more than the global demand and giving increasingly discounts to their customers. The Iranian administration and the parliament have different viewpoints about the oil price in the next year’s budget. The administration believes that the oil price will rise in the next Iranian calendar year, starting on March 21, and has set the oil price at $72 per barrel, while many members of the parliament have emphasized that the oil price should be set at $40. On Wednesday, OPEC oil was sold at less than $44 per barrel. Last week, the figure was about $41. Iran is planning to export one million barrels of oil per day and 300,000 barrels of gas condensates in the next fiscal year. The next year’s budget reliance on oil income...

Continuance of declining indexes on the Tehran Stock Exchange caused protests by shareholders on Jan.21. Tehran Stock Exchange main index (TEPIX) dropped 535 points, or 0.8 percent on Jan. 21 day-to-day and stood at 65,028 points. The fall of Tehran’s main index started in early 2014 and has dropped 22 percent so far. Over the past seven days, the decline accelerated, which has created alarm among shareholders. But, why is Iran's stock market collapsing, while the official economic statistics indicate 4 percent GDP growth versus about 8.7 percent contraction during last two consecutive fiscal years? Iran's fiscal year started on March 21. The CEO of Tehran Stock Exchange, Hassan Ghalibaf Asl said Jan.21 that the plunge in oil price and parliament's disagreement on the budget bill proposed by government has pushed TEPIX down. However, regarding the Tehran Stock Exchange's official statistics, TEPIX has been in decline since early 2014, several months a...

The latest statements made by Iranian officials indicate the country's enriched gas production increased to about 220 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2014. The deputy of Iran's oil minister Hamidreza Araghi said on Jan.18 that Iran's enriched gas production level reached 666 mcm/d, breaking a new record. He said the country's enriched gas production level was 570 mcm/d until September 2013 and stood at 637 mcm/d during last months of 2014. Winter 2013 Spring 2014 Summer 2014 Fall 2014 Enriched gas production volume 585 mcm/d 585 mcm/d 610 mcm/d 637 mcm/d Iran's enriched gas production was about 570 mcm/d in mid-2013, but the country increased its production at South Pars gas field by 12.5 mcm/d in early 2014 until June and increased the level to 660 mcm/d by the end of year step-by-step. Dry gas production also increased significantly, but less than the domestic peak consumption level during the cold weather months. National Irania...

The latest statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran on Jan.18 indicate that the country's total exports stood at $48.728 billion during fist half of current fiscal year, about $4.4 billion more than the same period in last year. Iran's fiscal year starts on March 21. The figures say about $33.6 billion of the mentioned figure includes exporting gas, gas condensate, crude oil, petroleum products, LPG and NGLs, and indicates a $3.27 billion increase totally. The Central Bank of Iran didn't mention the details of oil and gas-related statistics, but with comparing the Iran Custom Administration's reports, the exact value of Iran's crude oil export is extractable. Iran's customs reports include the statistics of gas condensate, LPG and NGLs' exports. According to the custom's statistics, Iran exported about $1 billion worth propane, $730 million butane and $6.5 billion condensate, totally $8.23 billion during fist half of current fiscal ...