oil and gas condensate was exported during last month. That included 600,000 b/d of condensate. Iran’s oil exports are in good status, but have not reached the pre-sanctions level (2.35 mb/d). Gas condensate exports have been on the rise. If we take into account Iran’s entire crude oil and gas condensate exports, we have already reached the pre-sanctions level.
Q: Iran has recently made plans to export oil to ‘teapot refineries’ in China. Would you please tell us about that?
A: By virtue of laws in China, until last year teapot refineries or private companies were not authorized to import oil. But now in a bid to make the domestic market of petroleum products competitive, the Chinese government has recently issued such authorization so that teapot refineries in this country will be able to buy oil on their own. However, these refineries lack logistic and financial facilities. So far, a 2-million-barrel cargo has been sold to these teapots. The high volume of demand by Chinese teapot refineries has persuaded countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to deliver unitized oil cargoes.
Q: Does Iran have any plans to rent storage facilities in China?
A: So far, no need has been felt for these facilities because storage costs too much in China. But if we can supply a large volume of Iran’s oil to Chinese teapot refineries, we will be moving in this direction. So far we have not needed storage tanks in China. However, that would not be difficult to provide storage tanks.
Q: Which countries has Iran negotiated with so far, for exporting oil?
A: Iran is benefiting from any opportunity in the post-sanctions era to facilitate its return to market. In this regard, establishment of new trade ties with European companies, which are old customers of NIOC, are specifically prioritized.
Negotiations are under way for starting trade ties and finalizing relevant contracts. It is hoped that we would be able to load more crude oil cargoes to different countries in the near future.
After the removal of sanctions, Iran’s oil was sent to different European countries that had stopped receiving oil from Iran during years of sanctions. [France’s] Total, [Royal Dutch’ Shell, Italy’s Saras and Iplom Spa, Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum and Spain’s Repsol are among buyers of Iran’s oil. Europe is currently receiving roughly 600 tb/d of crude oil from Iran. During the first month of the second quarter of the Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), 2 million barrels of Iran’s crude oil were sent to East Europe.
Q: Do you think that unitized oil cargoes to East Europe would lead to the signature of long-term contracts?
A: Signing long-term contract depends on the market conditions and the policies of countries in this region.
Q: How do you assess the role of foreign capital in the progress of development projects?
A: It is natural for the country to need foreign investment in order to maximize recovery from oil reservoirs because any foot-dragging in the development of jointly owned fields will inflict irreparable damage on energy supply in the world. Iran’s petroleum industry currently needs $100 billion in funding. This figure requires foreign investment. That would help fix oil and gas production fall-off, while it will be instrumental in the development of hydrocarbon resources. It must be also noted that every single day in the development of fields will result in irreparable costs for the petroleum industry.