Page 35 - IRANRptJul18

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Iran is to allow private companies to export crude oil as part of its strategy to counter US sanctions, state media reported on July 1.
At the same time, Tehran is pressing fellow OPEC members, including regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia, not to breach agreed oil production levels.
As part of its drive to undermine Iran’s economy to the point where the Iranians will be forced to renegotiate the nuclear deal abandoned by Washington in early May, the Trump adminisatration has said it wants to see all countries stop importing Iranian oil from November.
“Iranian crude oil will be offered on the bourse and the private sector can export it in a transparent way,” First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri told an economic event in Tehran broadcast live on state television, as reported by Reuters. “We want to defeat America’s efforts... to stop Iran’s oil exports,” he added. “Oil is already being offered on the bourse, about 60,000 barrels per day, but that has been only for exports of oil products,” Jahangiri said. Iran has an oil and petrochemicals bourse as part of its mercantile exchange. Meanwhile, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh sent a letter to OPEC asking its members to adhere to the group’s agreement reached last month to collectively raise output and “refrain from any unilateral measures” that could undermine the unity of the producer group. Referring to reports that Saudi Arabia may increase its oil exports to replace Iranian oil in world markets, Jahangiri said: “Anyone trying to take away Iran’s oil market [share] would be committing great treachery against Iran and will one day pay for it.”
The leader of Saudi Arabia promised US President Donald Trump that he could raise oil production if needed and that his country has 2mn barrels per day of spare capacity, the White House said on June 30.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on June 28 that Iran is closer to its goal of self-sufficiency in gasoline production following the inauguration of the second phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
"When under threat of sanctions by our enemy, if we control and reduce our domestic consumption of gasoline... we can say that we are self-sufficient in fuel production," Rouhani said in a televised speech, referring to the US pulling out of the multnational nuclear deal with Iran and preparing to reimpose heavy sanctions on Iran. The US has this week warned all countries that they must stop importing Iranian crude by November or be exposed to secondary sanctions. Third largest oil producing OPEC member Iran has for years struggled to meet its domestic fuel needs. It has suffered a lack of refining capacity and previous international sanctions—rolled back from January 2016 under the nuclear deal—that caused spare parts shortages in plant maintenance. Iran's Persian Gulf Star Refinery converts light crude, known as condensate, into gasoline and naphtha. The new phase’s completion means it should now be capable of producing 24mn litres of petrol per day.
"If we can reduce our domestic consumption of 80 million litres of gasoline per day... we can even export gasoline," Rouhani was reported as saying by
35 IRAN Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com