Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 29
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The sale of oil ‘under the radar’ and through negotiations, hurts Iran’s energy stock market, Mohammad Sadegh Karimi, Iranian expert on energy issues, told Mehr News Agency, Trend reports.
According to Karimi, there are two reasons why Iranian oil is not being sold in the energy stock market.
“The first reason is that putting up oil at the energy stock market for sale is a fairly new process and has its minor deficiencies. The lack of oil sales at the energy stock market is not wrong or useless,” he said.
Even though foreign companies intend to enter the stock market sales, a foreign currency account was not established for that to begin with. Therefore, either foreign currency accounts should be opened for them, or they should look for local companies. This aspect, of course, is one that takes up time.
“The second reason is linked to the formation of a parallel market for oil sales. The sale of oil ‘under the radar’ and through negotiation hurts the stock market. Therefore, buying oil through various means, obtaining discounts, is in the interests of the private sector. But this issue is a damaging one for the country,” he said.
Karimi added that the companies can hold negotiations with the National Iranian Oil Company for an easier, and even a cheaper, trade. This leads to the customers being excluded from the stock exchange mechanism. In such an ‘under-the-radar’ mechanism, no discounts or simplifications can be permitted.
“Existing customers are used to negotiating, getting discounts, and consuming time. It’s because of this that doing business ‘under the radar’ is easier for them," he said.
Stating that it is important to keep trying to put oil up for sale at the energy stock market, the Iranian expert concluded that Iranian oil will find its customers.