Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 5
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran started exporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Europe.
Hassan Khosrojerdi, the head of the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters Union, said the country has recently started exporting LPG and petrochemical to Europe, although the volume of exports is not considerable, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on Dec. 5.
He added that the fall in crude oil price has reduced prices of oil products. For instance, mazut that was sold at $600 per metric tons is now sold at $465 per metric ton.
China, Singapore, India, Pakistan, and some African countries are the main customers of Iranian petrochemical products, he noted.
The Iran Customs Administration reported on Dec. 4 that Iran has boosted liquefied propane and butane exports sharply in the first eight months of the current year. The country exported 1463 thousand metric tons of propane, worth $1.375 billion, and 996,000 metric tons of butane, worth $924 million, showing 90.71 percent and 41.94 percent rise, respectively, year on year.
The current Iranian calendar year began on March 21.
Iran does not have excess capacity for petrochemical exports to European markets, Ahmad Mahdavi, the director general of the Petrochemical Employers Association said.
Currently Iran exports its petrochemical goods to European countries on a limited level as single shipments, he added.
In April, Iranian officials announced that some European countries including Italy, Spain and Greece have resumed imports of petrochemical products from Iran.
Iran's oil and petrochemical exports have increased following some sanctions relief on the Islamic Republic, including the EU and US bans on the country's petrochemical exports.