Trend Iran News Service head Dalga Khatinoglu
Iranian Customs Administration director Abbas Memarnejad announced that Iran exported $41.5 billion worth of non-oil goods, while it imported $53.3 billion worth of non-oil goods during the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20.
The Fars News Agency quoted Memarnejad as saying on Monday that non-oil imports and exports declined by 14 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
According to Fars, the ratio of exports to imports in the past year fell, so that the difference between imports and exports decreased to $11.8 billion from $18 billion in its preceding year.
Iran places condensates (a kind of oil with premium quality which is derived from gas wells), processed oil products such as furnace oil and diesel fuel, as well as some petrochemical products, in the list of non-oil goods, while they are regarded as oil derivatives in other countries.
No official report has been released yet about the exact volume of exported Iranian crude oil and condensates in the past year, but the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. has reported that Iran exported $69 billion worth of crude oil and condensates in 2012. It had put the value of Iranian crude oil and gas condensates in 2011 at $95 billion.
According to the report, Iran exports totally 1.5 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensates on the average per day in the past year.
World energy agencies, including the International Energy Agency, have reported that Iranian crude oil exports (excluding condensates) fell by half in 2012 compared to 2011 and reached 1.2 million barrels per day.
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said in December 2012 that Iran was producing 360,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, and that a major portion of it was exported.
Iran reportedly exports about $12 billion worth condensate in a year.
According to OPEC annual report, Iran earned $114.76 billion in 2011 through exporting crude oil, gas condensates, and oil products, accounting for 87.8 percent of the country's total exports. The U.S. Energy Administration Agency has reported that exports of crude oil and gas condensates accounted for 80 percent of Iran's total exports in 2011.