BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 1
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
The initial price of crude oil offered for sale on the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) should be decreased by $15, expert on energy issues Moqaddasah Fallahzadeh said, Trend reports citing Mehr news agency.
Fallahzadeh said that this will enable greater competition among the customers at the auction, adding that oil customers are expecting this discount from the Iranian Oil Ministry.
"In addition to the discount in price, it is very important to bring down the initial payment to 2 billion rials ($47,619)," the expert said.
"Because of the US sanctions imposed on Iran, the initial payment of about $2.4 million doesn't attract customers," Fallahzadeh added.
Under the Iranian budget law for the current Iranian year (began March 21, 2019), Iran's Petroleum Ministry should put two million barrels of light crude oil, two million barrels of heavy crude oil and two million barrels of gas condensate up for sale every month.
Iran started putting crude oil and gas condensates up for sale since October 28, 2018. About 1.1 million barrels have so far been sold at the exchange.
The US imposed sanctions on Iran in November 2018 and expanded the list of sanctions several times. The sanctions have seriously reduced Iran's oil exports.