Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has issued an order instructing the National Iranian Oil Production and Distribution Company (NIOPDC) to stop buying foreign licenses for domestic oil refineries.  The decision comes after some foreign companies involving in Iranian oil projects did not met their obligations and followed the international sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, according to the Pana news agency. 

The NIOPDC is currently using domestic expertise and licenses for implementing seven oil refining and two gasoline producing projects, the report added.  However, based on a report by Iran's ministry of industries and mines, domestic refineries produce 42,952 tons of petrochemicals, of which 15,033 tons are produced under the license of German companies. In fact, Germany holds a 35 per cent share in Iran's petrochemical pro­duction. UK, France and the Netherlands rank the next with 18 per cent share, 12 per cent share and 11 per cent share, respectively.

With an eye to these statistics, Iran is highly dependent on foreign expertise in the petrochemical sector. Over half of the country's petrochemical output will be dependent on the above four mentioned countries by 2015, the report says. Of course, the statistics do not include those plans for which licensors have not yet been introduced.  Considering the advancement of such foreign countries in the technological fields, the remaining 22 per cent of Iran's petrochemical output should be seemingly secured under the license of such countries in the future.

Iran exported more than 41.1 million tons of goods (without oil), worth over $19.3 billion, to Asian countries in the first eight months of the current calendar year (ended November 21), showing respectively 28 percent and 6 percent rise in terms of value and volume compared to the same period last year.  Exports to Europe, Africa, America and Oceania stood at $1.4 billion, $318 million, $224 million and $67 million respectively in the mentioned period of time, the ISNA news agency reported.  Iran exported over $28 billion worth of non-oil goods in the eight-month period, up 35 percent compared with the same period last year.  The country also imported some $40 billion worth of goods in the mentioned period of time, showing six percent fall year on year, the IRNA news agency reported.  Exports of technical and engineering services amounted to $2.9 billion in the eight-month period, the report added.  Previously, Trade Promotion Organization chief Hamid Safdel had said the value of non-oil exports is expected to hit $43 billion in the current year and $50.5 billion in the year after.

Iran’s oil revenues will reach a record of more than $100 billion this year, despite the sanctions imposed on the oil sector over its nuclear program, an international energy research firm said. According to IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associate (IHS CERA), high global crude oil prices boosted oil revenues of the Islamic Republic by nearly a third compared to the figure for 2010, Presstv reported. Bhushan Bahree, IHS CERA senior director for global oil, told Reuters, “The West faces a classic catch-22 in regards to Iranian sanctions,” adding, “Any sanctions that the West imposes [on Iran] will ratchet up tensions, which raises fears of a conflict and puts more upward pressure on oil prices.” He noted that the result of any possible sanction on Iran to keep the Iranian oil from buyers is a higher profit for the Islamic Republic as ‘it inevitably sells the oil to someone else’. Foreign ministers of the European Union met on December 1 to impose new sanctions against 180 Iranian individuals and companies, but failed to impose an embargo on the country’s oil sector. On November 21, the United States, Britain and Canada imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report on Tehran’s nuclear program on November 8, which claimed Iran’s nuclear program had a military aspect. The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on the country. Tehran has categorically refuted Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes. Iranian officials have repeatedly described the sanctions against the Islamic Republic as futile and ineffective.

The Centre for Global Energy Studies says that Iran’s oil revenue in 2011 will top $72 bn.  CGES which was founded by former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani in 1990 also says that the 12 OPEC members will earn $894 bn from oil export in 2011, 38% more than a year ago.  Saudi Arabia’s revenue will reach $287 bn and Iran would rank 5^th within OPEC after UAE, Kuwait and Iraq, the report says./-  www.Iranwpd.com