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started on March 20]. It is basically due to its privatisation plan. Other companies are set to come on to the market if the government recognises the SHASTA IPO as a success," Seifollahi said
"Also, it [an IPO] absorbs some of the liquidity in the market at no extra cost. SHASTA is almost the last company in this government tree to go public. Only two companies are remaining. The government doesn't lose control over these companies when they go public. It is just one way to absorb money from society," he added.
9.0​ Industry & Sectors 9.1 ​Sector news
9.1.1​Oil & gas sector news
Iran ‘expects 30% fall in petrochemical export revenues due to pandemic impacts’
South Pars ‘experience no drop in gas output despite coronavirus crisis’
Iran's petrochemical export revenues will contract by nearly one-third year on year given market impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the Iranian government-owned Press TV broadcaster.
The revenues would shrink by at least 30%, a report from parliament's Research Center cited by the media outlet has concluded. Depressed prices as well as problems with the transportation of goods across borders and by sea amid pandemic restrictions would be the main cause, the report added. Press TV gave an official figure of $12bn per annum for Iran’s petrochemical earnings.
The slump in demand was expected to make a clear and immediate impact on Iran's sales of methanol, liquefied petroleum gas and aromatics, while it was predicted that demand for other products such as polymers, urea and ammonia would gradually decrease over coming months.
Petrochemical exports have served as an increasingly important component of Iran's hard currency income since the US in 2018 re-imposed heavy sanctions on the country. In May last year, Washington tightened its sanctions to include an effort to drive all Iranian crude oil sales of world markets. Petrochemical products are more difficult for sanctions enforcers to target for reasons including their great diversity and the difficulty of tracing where petrochemical components of finished or intermediate products originated.
The CEO of Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company (POGC) has said the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has not interrupted gas production at the giant South Pars gas field, SHANA reported on April 16.
The entirety of South Pars in the Persian Gulf, shared by Iran and Qatar, is thought to make up the largest gas field in the world. However, the development of the field in Iranian waters has been hampered by US sanctions imposed on Tehran. In August 2018, sanctions put an end to French energy major Total’s planned participation in South Pars hydrocarbon extraction. POGC CEO Mohammad Meshkinfam paid a visit to the the Assaluyeh and Kangan gas processing sites, where gas recovered from South Pars is processed. There, he reportedly received briefings on latest developments in operations.
Meshkinfam was cited as saying that the spread of the coronavirus outbreak
37​ IRAN Country Report May 2020 www.intellinews.com