Baku, Azerbaijan, June 25
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Oil Ministry of Iran has called on the country's private sector to build eight small-scale gas condensate refineries in the South Pars Special Energy Zone.
The refineries each will have a capacity to refine 60,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on June 25.
On May 5, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi said engineering and infrastructural works will be done by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company and the rest will be done by the private sector, Iran's Shana news agency reported.
On April 8, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran plans to increase crude oil and gas condensate production capacity to 5.5 million barrels per day in four years.
Iran has exported on average 504,000 barrels of gas condensate per day since achieving an interim nuclear accord with the Sextet powers in November 2013.
Iran Custom Administration released a 229-pages of detailed statistics about the country's trade turnover during the last Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20.
The report indicates that the country increased condensate export volume from 195,000 barrels per day during first eight months (March 20, 2013 to November 20, 2013) to 504,000 barrels per day during the last four months of Iran's calendar year, which covers November 21, 2013 to March 19, 2014).
Iran's average condensate exports are 258 percent more than before the nuclear deal.
The U.S. and EU imposed tough sanctions over Iran's banking system as well as whose which targeted oil and petrochemical products exports in mid-2012, but some of sanctions, including petrochemical-related ones and insurance services for oil tankers have been eased due to the nuclear deal obtained on Nov. 24 that took effect on Jan. 20.
Iran exported about 12.873 million tons of condensate during last Iranian calendar year, indicating a 32.74 percent increase compared to the previous year and even is more than pre-sanctions level. Iran's condensate exports before the West's sanctions were about 269,000 barrels per day, which increased to above 294,000 during last year on average.
Gas condensate is a type of light crude oil, which is extracted mostly from gas fields.
Iran's revenues from condensate exports reached $10.295 billion during the last Iranian calendar year, and indicates a 15.93 percent increase, based on Custom reports.