Page 40 - IRANRptMar20

Previous estimations for SCG completion have suggested a $45bn price tag. Earlier on February 25, Azerbaijan announced it was in another set of discussions with Turkmenistan over the creation of a​ ​new joint venture project​. Turkmenistan wants to connect its oil and gas fields to those of Azerbaijan as means to add further revenue to its ailing economy but now has to face off with Iran, who has been opposed to any bid to route a pipe around its territory.
Iran has become OPEC's largest exporter of petrol, Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told IRIB in a live television interview on February 4.
He made no mention of US sanctions which theoretically are a big hindrance to Iranian petrol exports, meaning illicit transactions have not been countered by Washington to date or are passing disguised through the grey economy. Zanganeh said that the exports became possible after new fuel measures were brought in overnight last November. Under a new rationing system, each motorist that presents their ‘petrol card’ is allowed to buy 60 litres (13 gallons) of petrol a month at 15,000 rials (around $0.09 at the free market rate) a litre. Each additional litre then costs 30,000 rials. Previously, drivers were allowed up to 250 litres at 10,000 rials per litre. The announcement of the big price rise and rationing sparked nationwide street unrest, prompting officials to shut down the internet for several days in an attempt at curbing trouble. Unverified reports have put the riots death toll in the hundreds or even at over 1,000.
At the time of the unrest, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that if the government hadn’t increased fuel prices the country would have been forced to become a net importer of petrol. Such a situation would pose a big problem for Iran given the US sanctions.
Even after the hike, Iran's petrol prices are among the lowest in the world. Daily petrol consumption in Iran was 75-76mn litres, but after the introduction of rationing quotas the figure decreased by 20mn litres.
Iran built refining capacity, lately upgraded to Euro-5 standard, after suffering petrol shortages during previous rounds of sanctions applied before the 2015 nuclear deal.
Newly compiled data suggests that Iran is presently managing to export a million barrels of oil a day despite the US effort to drive Iranian crude off world markets, according to Tankertrackers.com, a satellite-technology oil tanker tracking firm.
The company, which monitors the movements of oil and gas tankers on the high seas, said the activity of Iranian tankers during January indicated exports of 31mn barrels, or 1mn b/d. Reuters in mid-January, citing Refinitiv data, assessed that Iran’s crude and condensates exports were lately down to 400,000 b/d, compared to a May 2018 peak of 2.8mn b/d.
Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com told bne IntelliNews that the Iranians and foreign companies were exporting Iranian crude to destinations including the East Asia and Mediterranean Sea regions.
"A strong rebound of Iran's crude oil exports took place during January, doubling up to one million barrels per day. A large portion of vessels were foreign, which have been greatly under-represented since the sanction waivers [previously awarded to a handful of importers of Iranian oil by the US] expired last April. Between 7-10% of this oil will reach Syria over the coming days and weeks via the Suez Canal while the rest heads to the Far East and to oil traders closer to home.”
40​ IRAN Country Report​ March 2020 www.intellinews.com