TEHRAN, Iran, Dec.3
Trend:
Chairman of the Energy Commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce analyzed the government ability to abolish dependency on oil revenues in next year budget and the latest status of Iran oil export under the sanctions.
"All these years, we have wasted our oil revenues, and this is our weakness", Ali Shams Ardakani told Trend referring to the government's decision to reduce its dependence on oil due to the sanctions in next year budget plan.
"The oil money had to be invested and consumed for the well-being of the Iranian people as it is implied under the law of nationalization of the oil industry. Oil is national wealth, but the governments so far saw oil money as the main budget revenue,” Shams Ardakani said.
“As long as our plan and budget organization is oil money distributing organization, whether through domestic sales or foreign exports, the oil dependency will not be reduced. As long as our budget is dependent on oil, we are weak against any obstacles on selling oil," he added.
Tounchin upon the problem of lack of optimal energy consumption in Iran, the chairman pointed to Tehran's air pollution, saying that it is caused by 80 million cubic meters of gas burnt daily in Tehran.
Referring to the latest status of Iranian oil export to China, he said; "Chinese didn't stop buying oil from Iran, but they could have increased the import, as other countries were sanctioned against us.”
Answering the question whether Japan stopped buying oil from Iran due to sanctions, Shams Ardakani said that Japan is different case and it is one of the countries that follow the sanctions.