Page 48 - IRANRptOct22

8.4 Fixed income
8.4.1 Fixed income - bond news
Bout of speculation that Iran plans to offer oil bonds to citizens in return for hard currency and gold
Iran launches tenders for LNG terminals
On the bond market, speculation that the cash-strapped Rouhani administration was set to sell oil bonds to citizens has gone nowhere, with jitters about Iran’s oil export prospects said to have hindered the plan. Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, a lawmaker for Tabriz, told local press in August that he thought Iranians nationwide had $35bn stashed in their homes, almost equal to the state budget for one year.
Centrist politician Hossein Marashi lately said during a meeting with Rouhani that the government could keep the country's economy going for at least another year by collecting everyone's FX and gold by issuing "oil shares" that would be redeemed in three years.
The same plan was put forward in 2012 under the Ahmadinejad administration when sanctions against Iran's oil industry began to be enforced. But it was never put into action.
There has to be serious doubt that enough citizens would risk their hard currency and gold savings in oil transaction investments given the deep uncertainties facing the Iranian oil industry in the years ahead.
In anticipation that the nuclear deal will be renewed, Iran has announced tenders for gas liquefaction (LNG) projects, SHANA reported. State-owned National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) announced that it is accepting bids for the construction of small LNG terminals until April without specifying the size, location or construction time needed for the projects.
“Iran is resuming efforts to export LNG as Europe tries to reduce dependence on Russia, and negotiations are underway to lift sanctions on the country. The previous eight Iranian LNG projects have stalled due to restrictions and lack of capital, including partnerships with France's Total and Russia's Gazprom," Bloomberg correspondent Stephen Stapczynski tweeted on March 15.
Iran has three large LNG projects: South Pars LNG with a capacity of 10mn tonnes per year with Total, Persian LNG with a capacity of 16.2mn tpy with Shell and Iran LNG with a capacity of 10.8mn tpy. Most of the work on the latest project had been completed, but the resumption of US sanctions in 2018 meant that the German Linde was unable to deliver equipment to Iran.
As noted by Argus, in 2019 the country produced 244bn cubic metres of gas, but with high consumption, only 20 bcm was exported, which went to Turkey and Iraq.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received US written assurances that sanctions would not apply to Russia's co-operation with Iran and was in favour of resuming the deal as soon as possible.
48 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com