TEHRAN, Iran, March. 27
Trend:
Iran's Energy Exchange was established to directly transfer the product to the buyers and consumers and finance the oil industry through the issuance of financial securities, Director of Iran's Energy Exchange Ali Hosseini said, Trend reports via IRNA.
Referring to the impact of coronavirus outbreak on the oil prices, he said the spread of the coronavirus drove the demands down, and this led to decrease of crude oil prices.
"We are trying to compensate for some of the effects of the coronavirus by increasing the volumes of activity, supply and sales of petroleum products," he said.
Regarding the prospect of oil prices in the market for the next 12 months, Hosseini said that the existing issues such as coronavirus and its impact on the global economy have reduced crude oil demand and the virus has severely affected the major economies such as China, the US and the European Union.
Referring to the major drops in China`s demand he says that China is considered to be the world's largest energy consumer, which has a direct impact on the global oil market.
Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 18,400 people have been infected, 1284 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 5,900 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
Following the reports of coronavirus spread in the Islamic Republic, several countries have taken measures, including closing borders and banning flights.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic.