Economy

RFL/RE – Iran said it will begin selling 100,000 barrels of oil a day to Russia within the next 15 days and receive payment half in cash and half in goods and services, Iranian news media reported on February 21. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh provided details about the deal after meeting Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak in Tehran, …

VOA – Iran sits on what are thought to be the world’s largest gas reserves, yet can barely supply its own domestic demand. Since the nuclear deal lifted sanctions, the country has sought foreign investment in exploration and infrastructure. But will the hawkish stance of U.S. President Donald Trump put them off? Henry Ridgwell reports from the CWC Iran Gas …

Al-monitor – In mid-January, an Iranian oil tanker leased to a Spanish oil company reached Europe. It called at the Port of Algeciras in Spain two days after the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and shortly before US President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20. The managing director of the National Iranian …

PayvandNews – Iran says its production of automobiles has already seen an increase of around 40 percent over a period of 11 months starting 21 March 2016 compared to the same period in the previous year. The announcement was made by Mansour Moazzami, the board chairman of the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) which is the operational arm of …

PayvandNews – Iran has discovered about a dozen new oil fields with in-place reserves of 30 billion barrels, head of exploration at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) says. Some 4.7 billion barrels of these reserves are recoverable, said Seyyed Saleh Hendi who also announced the discovery of 128 trillion cubic feet of gas. New discoveries, which happened over the past …

PayvandNews – Iranian oil minister has said that considering oil prices at $55 per barrels, the country’s revenues from oil and gas condensate exports will reach $45-$50 billion in the next Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2017-March 20, 2018), IRNA reported on Saturday. According to Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the country’s oil and gas condensate’s exports stand near 2.8 million barrels …

Al-monitor  — The sudden and sharp fall in the main index of the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) on Jan. 24 came as a real shock to investors. After allowing the resumption of trade in Bank Mellat shares, TEDPIX took a dive of 1,014.40 points, or 1.28%, to land at a three-month low of 78,249.1 points. AUTHOR Alireza Ramezani The Central …

RFL/RE – Russia’s No.2 oil producer, Lukoil, is seeking opportunities for growth in the Middle East as Iran opens its oil fields to international partners, a senior executive says. “Iran is our target area at the moment,” Gati Al-Jebouri, Lukoil’s head of upstream operations in the Middle East, told reporters in Dubai on January 29. Lukoil is in talks with …

Al-monitor — One of the key underlying economic challenges of Iran is the current underfunding of its pension system. Make no mistake: Pension reform must be a priority for the country. Figures posted by the Ministry of Cooperative, Labor and Social Welfare show that “a major portion of pension funds have either gone completely bust or are among the ones …

RFL/RE – World oil prices have plummeted over concerns that a deal to curb production reached between OPEC, Russia, and other producers will not hold for much longer. The drop of nearly 4 percent in London premium crude prices to $54.82 a barrel came after Iraq reported that exports from its largest oil fields in the south hit a record …