Iran has officially announced the volume of its oil output and export for the first time in past 2.5 years.
The Islamic Republic has exported $33.631 billion worth of crude oil (includes condensates and natural gas plant liquids-NGPL, petroleum products, Natural gas and LGP) during the first half of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21 – September 22, 2014), according to the latest report of the Central Bank of Iran released on Jan. 17.
The report indicates that the Islamic Republic’s average crude oil exports have fallen to 1.9 million barrels per day in fiscal year of 1391(March 2012-March 2013) from 2.107 million barrels per day in preceding year or a decline by 10 percent, as a result of international sanctions.
A series of international sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector have led foreign companies to cancel a number of new projects and upgrades of existing projects.
The crude export decline continued in fiscal year of 1392(March 2013-March 2014) and stood at 1.685 million barrels per day.
It was earlier supposed that the international sanctions have cut down the country’s oil export below one million barrel per day in last two days. However the Islamic Republic’s official statistics does not confirm that. It indicates that both oil export and oil output was in decline in recent two year.
The Islamic Republic’s oil output stood at 3.619 million barrels per day in 1390(March 2011-March 2012), 3.732 million barrels per day in 1391 and then declined to 3.481 million barrels per day in last fiscal year (ended on March 21, 2014).
The Central bank did not publish the oil output and export during the current fiscal year.
It only said that the country’s oil revenue was $33.631 billion in first six months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22, 2014).
The Islamic Republic’s oil revenues stood at $118 billion in fiscal year of 1390(2011-2012) before sharply slip below $68.136 billion in the fiscal year of 1391 and $64.789 billion in last fiscal year (ended on March 21, 2014).
While the global oil prices in 2012 and 2013 were almost unchanged it is not clear why Iran’s oil revenues almost halved in 2013 despite only 10 percent decrease in exports’ value.
The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at $105.87 a barrel in 2013, compared with $109.45 the previous year.
| Fiscal year(starts on March 21) | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | (March 21-Sept. 22, 2014). |
| Oil output(mbpd) | 3.619 | 3.732 | 3.481 | — |
| Oil exports(mbpd) | 2.107 | 1.9 | 1.685 | — |
| Revenues | $118 billion | $68.136 billion | $64.789 billion | $33.631 billion |
Iran’s crude oil output, including condensates and natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) stood at 3.238 million barrels per day during the first nine months of 2014, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
After averaging an estimated 3.9 million barrels per day from 2001 to 2010, Iran’s production has continued declining, to an estimated 3.387 million barrels per day in 2012, and 3.113 million barrels per day in 2013, according to the EIA’s report.
By holding 157 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves, Iran possesses the world’s fourth largest reserves of crude oil.
The Islamic Republic plans to increase its total crude oil and condensate production capacity to 5.7 million barrels per day till March 2019.
Umid Niayesh is Trend Agency’s staff journalist
