Page 50 - IRANRptOct22

Budget review shows Iran’s oil revenues up 481% y/y in four-month period
Iran’s petrochemical exports reportedly up 38% y/y to $9.1bn in first five Persian months
Iran, Russia reportedly set to go ahead with gas swap arrangement
Iran’s oil revenues grew 481% y/y in the first four months of the Persian calendar year (March 21-July 22), according to the latest budgetary performance review report published by the Iranian Planning and Budget Organisation (PBO).
Government revenues overall were up 63% y/y.
In June, PBO head Massoud Mirkazemi told Iranian media that Iranian oil sales were showing a distinct improvement, despite the fact that US sanctions remain in place in an attempt at pushing Iranian crude out of world export markets.
“Oil prices and exports have increased and [the performance in] selling oil has become better,” Mirkazemi said.
Energy Intelligence wrote on August 16 that Europe’s looming oil supply crunch was magnifying the appeal of Iranian crude.
With an EU embargo on Russian oil due to take effect in December as part of Europe’s response to the Ukraine war waged by the Kremlin, many oil traders would like to see Iran and the US reach an agreement on relaunching the 2015 nuclear deal, which would mean the lifting of US sanctions on Iranian oil and clear the way for a surge in oil deliveries to markets worldwide by Iran. Presently, Tehran concentrates on selling oil under-the-radar, with China the biggest recipient.
"It would be positive for the supply side of crude and gas [if US sanctions on Iran were lifted]. Lower prices for all of us," one trader, with a refinery in southern Europe, told the trade publication.
Iran's petrochemical exports rose by 38% y/y to $9.14bn in the first five Persian calendar months (March 21 to August 21), state media reported on August 28.
Petrochemicals accounted for 44% of the value of Iran’s total exports in the period, they added, citing figures from the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).
"The country has launched several major petrochemical plants in recent years while plans are in place to boost the output and exports from the sector to further reduce Iran’s reliance on crude oil exports," stated a report from Press TV.
The quoted data showed methanol exports in the reporting period expanded by 43% y/y to hit $1.24bn. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipments were roughly flat year on year at $961m. Urea exports jumped 79% y/y to $958m. Morteza Shahmirzaei, managing director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), was reported by the Tehran Times on August 27 as saying Iranian annual petrochemical exports were expected to reach $18bn in the current Iranian calendar year (ends March 20, 2023).
Iran’s annual petrochemical production capacity stood at 90mn tonnes, he added.
The value of Iran’s petrochemical exports in the last Persian year was around $15bn, Shahmirzaei previously said.
Petrochemicals provide Iran with its second-largest source of export revenue after crude oil, constituting almost one-third of the country’s non-oil exports.
Iran and Russia look set to implement a gas swap arrangement under which the former will take 15mn cubic metres (mcm) per day of gas from the latter, according to Iranian media reports.
A volume of 9 mcm of Russian gas per day would flow into northern Iran via pipelines running via Azerbaijan, while southern parts of Iran would take 6 mcm of gas from Russia per day delivered in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to Fars News Agency, one of the outlets that reported the
50 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com