Iran's energy sector review

Iranian outlets are increasingly warning about a wheat shortage in the country which stands beside the world's biggest cereal importers with an annual corn purchase of more than seven million tons. Iranian semi-official Fars News Agency reported on July 22 that Indian flour cargoes have been distributed among Tehran's bakeries while according to agreements between Iran and India, New Delhi's wheat should have been imported to Iran, not its flour. The agency added that Iranian flour mill factories are working at 50 per cent capacity. Iran and India agreed that 45 per cent of Iranian oil export payment be paid off through rupees used for purchasing Indian goods by Iranian businessmen, including rice, tea and wheat. On the other hand, Iranian Mehr News Agency reported that interior wheat producers should sell their harvest to private sector that pays more for the wheat than the government and sell to poultry and livestock firms. Reportedly, Iranian Qom city's ...

Iranian parliament member, close to ruling conservatives party, Allah-Verdi Dehghani's statement about the necessity of producing nuclear-fuel engines for ships because of avoidance of the U.S. allies to provide Iranian ships with fossil type fuel, are likely to increase the doubts over the final goal of Iran's nuclear program. Earlier, in 2010, Iran started processing 20-percent enriched uranium due to avoidance of western countries from bartering 1,200 kg of Iran's 3.5-percent enriched uranium gas (UF6) stockpile with 120 kg of 20-percent enriched nuclear fuel for 5 megawatt-thermal Tehran's Research Reactor (TRR). Now, according to International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) latest report, Iran holds above 140 kg 20-percent enriched uranium, without existence of another pool-type reactor in the country, excepting TTR. During an interview with Iranian Mashreghnews.ir website, Dehghan said that Iran should produce higher-level uranium for ships. However,...

Iran says a consortium of Iran's private sector companies will take on 20 percent of the country's total crude oil exports as international sanctions against the Iran's oil and banking sectors took effect on July 1. According to Mehr report, Oil Ministry and Central Bank have agreed to transfer the exports of some 500,000 barrels of crude oil (about 20 percent of Iran' total oil export) to the private sector as a way to circumvent the sanctions. With regarding this fact that Iran's private sector has never sold any oil, yet, then it's unclear that how can they succeed in organizing oil export, to ship, to get insurance and re-insurance, to get the money and the mechanism of transferring that to inside country. On the other hand, Iran has started offering oil in Kish Exchange since last year, but after 8 times failed attempts to sell crude oil, it withdrew from this plan. Hassan Khosrojerdi, the head of the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Produc...

The oil inspection affairs department of the General Inspection Organization of Iran has reported that Iran is currently extracting less than 35,000 barrels of crude oil from the South Pars gas field's oil layer, while the Qatari side is exploiting as much as 450,000 barrels per day. The South Pars gas field is associated between Iran and Qatar. It holds around 30 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. It has an oil layer with an estimated reserve of 1.6 billion barrels with 30.3 deg. API with 1.9 percent sulphur. According to studies in 2005, the oil layer is divided into two sections, but the National Iranian Oil Company's exploration department rejected the theory in 2010 using existing geophysical surveys. The oil layer is jointly owned by Iran and Qatar. The 13-fold exploitation of Qatar compared to Iran from the oil layer means that reserves in the Iranian side will be flowing down into the southern section in Qatar in the long run. Maersk Oil Qatar AS Compa...

Iranian president told Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on eve of new nuclear talks that Iran can halt 20 per cent-enriched uranium process if the West countries guarantee to supply all needed nuclear fuels for Iranian nuclear power plants. On the other hand, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani announced last week that Iran can decide for itself to what degree it wants to enrich uranium based on "domestic demands". He spoke on the eve of nuclear talks between Iran and the worlds' six major powers in Moscow. Iran and P5+1 negotiated the nuclear issue in Russia on Monday without result and want to keep talks going onTuesday. It seems Iran is preparing to compromise towards the West, but the coincidental issue is Iran's demand that its uranium enrichment rights be respected and accepted by the international community, as Ali Bagheri, deputy of Iran top nuclear negotiator suggested. Iran's demand is a disputed point because the UN Security Council has...

Iran announced on June 2 that it will introduce a nominee for the post of secretary general of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but a day later Iraqi deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said that Iran will support Samir Ghazban, the Iraqi nominee for the position. Mr. Shahristani told Bloomberg that Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi, in his recent talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad, has voiced his support for the Iraqi nominee to take over the post of OPEC secretary general. Meanwhile, the IRNA News Agency quoted Qasemi on Sunday as saying that Iran will introduce its nominee for this position at the June 14th meeting. However, Iran has not officially declared its withdrawal from taking over the post of the OPEC secretary general. The Iranian oil minister reiterated on June 4th that the country will soon introduce a nominee for the position. Iraq is inexperienced in executive affairs in the OPEC and has only worked as formally part ...

After four rounds of negotiations between Iran and P5+1 in Turkey and Baghdad since April, the hopes of resolving concerns over Iran's disputed nuclear programme seems be paled as Iran rejected both allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors to visit the alleged nuclear blast chamber at Parchin military complex and halting 20 per cent uranium enrichment. The sides are preparing to launch a new round of talks in mod-June in Russia. What's been going? Maybe the wrong addresses published by outlets such as the U.S. readiness to recognise Iran's uranium enrichment rights for a 3.5 per cent level, or IAEA chief Yukia Amano's visit to Tehran that be taken as an Iranian government's compromise against the West to clarify its nuclear activities. The sanctions imposed by UNSC, EU and the U.S. are law and eliminating them while Iran puts the first precondition halting the sanctions, is impossible in the short term. Eliminating sanctions over...