Tehran, Iran, Jan. 11
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
The Secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council of the System Mohsen Rezaei said the international sanctions imposed on Iran have decreased the country's oil exports by one billion barrels per day in the past three years.
"Therefore, Iran has lost around $100 billion of revenues in the mentioned period," he explained, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on Jan. 11.
"Two kinds of sanctions hit Iran's oil sector in the past few years. The first is the US-led sanctions which decreased the country's oil exports by one million barrels per day," Rezaei noted.
"The second kind of sanctions imposed on Iran is the price sanction which was imposed by Saudi Arabia and some other regional oil producers," he added.
"If the falling trend of oil prices continue for another three years, Iran will lose another $100 million," the official said.
Falling global oil prices forced Iran's government to decrease the oil price figure in the proposed budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year to $72 per barrel from the current figure of $100.
Iran is expected to face severe budget deficit in the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20).
The country decided to sell its crude oil to Asia in November at the biggest discount in almost six years. The decision was made after Saudi Arabia cut prices for all grades and to all regions for November. Qatar and Iraq decreased their prices as well.
Based on Iran's budget law, the country is supposed to export 1.4 million barrels of oil (including gas condensate) per day.
Reports suggest that if the current tendency continues, the total budget deficit may soar above $2.5 billion.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also predicted that Iran's total oil revenues will be 30 percent less than expected.
The experts believe that due to the continuing fall of oil prices on the global markets, a budget deficit in the next calendar year is also inevitable.