Iran's condensate, petchem exports surpassed pre-sanction level

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.24

By Dalga Khatinoglu - Trend:

Iran could resume the gas condensate and petrochemical exports to abow the pre-sanctions level.

The country exported over $12 billion worth of gas condensate, as well as $12.771 billion worth of petrochemical products during ten months of the current fiscal year [March 21, 2014 - Jan.21], according to the Customs Administration's latest monthly report, released Jan.24.

The report said Iran exported 16.5 million metric tons of natural gas condensate during the last ten months, or averagely, 452,000 barrels per day, which indicates a 41.35 percent increase year-to-year.

The figures for the last month are quite astounding. The country exported 3.078 million metric tons of gas condensate, or 861,000 barrels per day for $97/barell, according to the report.

There is no any international report about Iran's crude oil and condensate exports from Jan.1 to Jan.21, but it was estimated that Iran's crude oil and condensate exports as of December 2014 were 1.1 million barrels and over 300,000 barrels of condensate per day.

On the other hand, the OPEC basket price was around $50/barrel from December 23, 2014 to January 21, 2015. Iran's ultra-light crude oil price (gas condensate) is several dollars more than OPEC basket, but custom's figures show that Iran exported a barrel of condensate at $97.15 during last month.

However, the figures don't indicate the exact amount of the gas condensate sold by Iran. They just show the uploaded volume and the volumes shipped to global markets.

For instance, Iran stores a part of its condensate in China.

China's latest customs report indicates that this country took 604,740 bpd of Iranian crude and condensate in December 2014.

In mid-2012, the Unites States and European Union imposed tight sanctions to force Iran to curb its sensitive nuclear activities, which has led to declining the country's condensate export from 270,000 barrels per day in 2011 to below 160,000 barrels in mid-2013, but after easing sanctions due to interim nuclear deal achieved in November 2013, Iran's gas condensate export soared rapidly.

The following figures* have been extracted from Iranian Custom Administration's monthly report:

Petrochemical exports

The value of Iran's petrochemical product exports before western sanctions was $1.25 billion per month on average, but decreased to $855 million during ten months of last Iranian fiscal year. However, the customs' new report says that Iran exported $12.77 billion worth of petrochemical products during last ten months, or $1.27 billion per month in average.

Iran's petrochemical products export has increased by 46.95 percent and 38.83 percent, in volume and value respectively.

Iran also exported $1.882 billion worth of propane and $1.23 billion worth of butane during last ten months.

The country's total non-oil exports (including gas condensate) were $43.677 billion, while imports reached $42.584 billion during ten months of fiscal year.

Iran's non-oil exports increased by 24.21 percent and its imports experienced a 15.44 percent growth during the mentioned period.

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Dalga Khatinoglu is an expert on Iran's energy sector, head of Trend Agency's Iran news service.

Follow him on @dalgakhatinoglu