Page 37 - IRANRptMar19

Iran presently has some of the cheapest retailed fuel in the world because the petrol price is fixed at the government rate of IRR15,000 (€0.07) per litre, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) is priced at IRR10,000 (€0.06).
Iran has discovered a new oil field containing reserves of “very light and sweet” crude near the southwestern city of Abadan, IRIB cited the country’s oil minister as saying on January 22.
The minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, has previously pointed to how Iran can look forward to tapping as-yet-undiscovered oil and gas fields. That is partly because the country halted much of its hydrocarbon exploration activities following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran has the world’s fourth largest oil reserves and second largest gas reserves.
The discovery was reportedly made on Minoo Island. Nearby Abadan is the century-old home of Iran’s original oil refineries created by British Petroleum (BP), previously known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). The site, situated to the west of the city's airport, would be easy to tap, with all the required equipment pretty much on hand.
Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Iran’s parliament on January 20 that the country should see the objective of roughly doubling the annual output value of its petrochemical industry to $40bn as “totally doable”, IRNA reported.
There will be plenty of scepticism in response to Zanganeh’s words in the current circumstances. Iran was relying on foreign investment to drive up its petrochemical production rates, but investors from abroad have been exiting the Iranian petrochemical industry in droves given the return of heavy US sanctions targeted at the Islamic Republic’s economy. Specific sanctions against Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical industries were kickstarted by Washington last November 5.
France’s Total, when last year abandoning multi-billion-dollar plans to help Iran develop resources in the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, also simultaneously gave up on petrochemical production ambitions in Iran. Early-stage planning work had been started by the French energy maker on investing in petrochemical facilities that would have used gas from South Pars as cheap feedstock.
Turkey resumed imports of Iranian crude oil following a one-month hiatus in November, the month when US sanctions on Iran’s energy industries were reimposed, trading and shipping sources told Reuters on January 8.
The US granted Turkey and seven other countries 180-day import waivers in early November. Turkey said it was permitted to take 3mn tonnes a year, equivalent to about 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), under the waiver. It used to import about 200,000 bpd of Iranian crude before Washington announced in May last year that it would pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.
Turkey reduced its imports from Iran in the months prior to sanctions coming into force on November 5 and then its imports fell to zero in November.
In December Turkey took delivery of two tankers carrying Iranian crude, equivalent to about 54,000 bpd during December, according to a shipping and trading source familiar with the matter spoken to by the news agency.
The Solan tanker delivered into the port of Aliaga, while the Sea Topaz I discharged at Tutunciftlik.
So far in January, Turkey is set to receive a cargo from the Iranian-owned tanker Sinopa, the sources and Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking showed.
37 IRAN Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com