Tehran, Iran, May 13
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Some 12,000 barrels of crude oil have been sold at Iran's energy bourse to date.
Seyed Ali Hosseini, the managing director of the bourse, said on May 13 that the country's oil refineries are the main buyers, the Fars news agency reported on April 6.
"We are in negotiation with the oil ministry to lower the price in order to make transactions more attractive," he said.
"The energy ministry has also agreed to increase electricity-related transactions," he added.
Iran's oil exports have stayed above levels allowed under Western sanctions for a fifth month, according to sources who track tanker movements, in a further sign that a deal to ease some restrictions is helping Tehran sell more crude, Reuters reported on March 26.
Under the Geneva nuclear deal, Iran's exports are supposed to be held at an average one million bpd for the six months to July 20. But shipments to Asia have topped that level at least since November, according to ship tracking data.
The U.S. administration believes that exports will fall in coming months and on average will fall to the one million bpd level stipulated by the interim agreement which went into effect on January 20.
Iran's crude exports have averaged 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, down from 1.4 million bpd in February, the report said. That is still an elevated rate, as exports of Iranian oil in 2013 averaged 1.1 million bpd.