Iranian Rial

screwball · January 7, 2017

TEHRAN – The Philippines is willing to buy four million barrels per month of Iranian crude oil, IRNA reported on Friday, quoting Pedro A. Aquino, a board member of Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC).

PNOC plans to construct a 400-barrel-capacity oil refinery in the country and has it on agenda to supply the refinery’s feedstock cooperating with big oil companies including National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

According to the Filipino official, PNOC has already reached an agreement with Russia’s Rosneft for buying four million barrels per month of crude oil; they are negotiating with Shell for another four million barrels per month and they hope to supply the rest from NIOC.

“We are also interested in investing in Iran’s liquefied gas sector for future supplement of our country’s energy needs,” Aquino said.

The Philippines, which was one of Iran’s oil customers before the imposition of EU oil embargo on Iran in 2012, has resumed its presence in Iran’s oil industry by joining the Pergas consortium in November 2016.

“By joining Pergas, we seek investments in Iran’s upstream sector and long-term crude purchase,” the official noted.

National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) and a consortium of international companies (including PNOC), known as Pergas, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in November 2016 for carrying out studies over two Iranian oilfields.

screwball · January 7, 2017

Iranian, Czech private sectors poised to revolutionize economic ties

Economy

January 7, 2017

TEHRAN- Ambassador of Czech Republic to Iran Svatopluk Cumba and Head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (TCCIMA) Masoud Khansari, voiced readiness to strengthen economic ties between the two countries’ private businesses in a meeting in Tehran.

As the portal of TCCIMA reported, during the meeting, Cumba referred to the first Iran-Czech Joint Economic Committee meeting held recently in Prague and noted that during the past year and as of the implementation of Iran’s nuclear deal, both Iranian and Czech businessmen have paid several visits to each other’s countries and various economic agreements in various fields as well as joint investment contracts have been signed.
He evaluated banking transactions as the main barrier to improvement of bilateral relations adding that relevant negotiations have been held with banking and monetary officials of the two countries in a bid to overcome such hurdles.
Khansari, for his part, underscored that industrial collaboration between Tehran and Prague dated back to half a century as both sides enjoy close ties in various industries. He touched upon arrival of several Czech delegations over the past year adding that TCCIM’s plans to deploy trade delegations to the Czech Republic.
TCCIM members are owners of active businesses and acquainted with Czech industries, so the upcoming visit could revolutionize bilateral economic relations, he added.
TCCIMA plans to dispatch a trade delegation headed by Khansari to Czech Republic and Denmark from January 29 to February 3, 2017, the official website of TCCIMA announced previously.
The Iranian delegates- active in the fields of industrial and mining equipment, heavy machinery, renewable energies, environmental technology, medicine and medical equipment, as well as food and dairy industries- will visit their Czech and Danish counterparts during their six-day visit.

screwball · January 7, 2017

Seif: Control of inflation, a CBI achievement

Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Valiollah Seif has said that bringing inflation under control is an achievement which demonstrates CBI's independence.

The CBI, as an independent body which shapes financial policies, has targeted stability in prices as well as financial stability, Seif told a meeting on Saturday to review the policies of economy of resistance, IRNA reported.

In the meeting, Seif hoped that the national economy would witness a boom without inflation.

He further underlined the importance of peace and stability in the economy in order to avoid economic shock.

screwball · January 7, 2017

Just now, screwball said:

Seif hoped that the national economy would witness a boom without inflation.

Really....?please explain lol...

screwball · January 8, 2017

The governor of the Central Bank of Iran said the bank's independence is the byword for the realization of Resistance Economy tenets in the county's monetary policymaking.

"The most important issue regarding Resistance Economy is the principle of the central bank's independence," Valiollah Seif was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

Seif was speaking at an event focusing on CBI efforts concerning the implementation of Resistance Economy principles, which was also attended by First Vice-President Es'haq Jahangiri at CBI's headquarters in Tehran.

Resistance Economy refers to a set of principles aimed at bolstering domestic production, curbing oil dependence, improving productivity and encouraging Iranians to buy domestically-manufactured products. The values have been hailed by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as the surest way of achieving sustainable prosperity and economic empowerment.

The central bank had unveiled a roadmap revolving around three major goals to achieve long-term targets envisioned by Resistance Economy in mid-December.

"Three general medium-term goals of 'price stability and taming inflation', 'creating stability in the financial sector of the economy' and 'decreasing foreign exchange fluctuations and improving transparency and efficiency of the currency market in meeting production and trade needs' have been set to realize Resistance Economy in monetary, banking and currency sectors," Seif had said at the time.

Noting that the independence of the monetary regulatory body is considered essential throughout the world, Seif said at Saturday's meeting that it has also historically been a factor in reducing the inflation rate.

"As a result of employing such an approach, keeping inflation at low levels is now established in global economies and two-digit inflation rates are only witnessed in few countries," he said.

According to the CBI governor, the findings of various studies suggest that an inverse relationship exists between the independence of the monetary regulatory body and the inflation rate.

Countries that gave the most leeway to such entities, he adds, experienced the lowest inflation rates.

The independence and autonomy of the central bank are also stressed in an impending bill that is yet to be passed by the parliament. The bill, known as the Central Bank Bill, aims to modernize banking regulations among other things.

Enhancing the independence of CBI, improving monetary policymaking and increasing CBI’s supervision over the money market are among its key goals.

As part of the bill, CBI would have more authority for setting policies and supervising banks and credit institutions.

Gov't on Board

Jahangiri, who also heads the Resistance Economy Headquarters–a government body that directly reports to the president—stressed the importance of central bank's independence.

"The focus on CBI in implementing the policies of Resistance Economy is important and the independence of the country's monetary and banking regulatory body is among the most important issues addressed in the government's new [central bank] bill, which will be delivered to the parliament," he said.

Referring to the unification of Iran's dual foreign exchange regime that has been in the works for a long time, the official said "it will be implemented the very moment the central bank deems appropriate".

High-ranking officials, including Seif and Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia, have repeatedly heralded the implementation of the rate unification plan by the end of the current fiscal year in March, but their latest remarks and recent fluctuations in the currency market have cast doubt over its timetable.

Early last week, the central bank issued a foreign exchange directive that curbs the activities of bureaux de change and increases banks' role in forex trading. Letters of credit are now opened specifically by banks that receive at least 10% of the total amount of L/C in advance.

"To engage in imports through the banks, the initial rate of the dollar has been set at 36,000 rials and when the time comes for settling the debt, the deal will be finalized at the open market rate when the L/C was issued or the time of the settlement," Seif had said while elaborating on the directive.

Jahangiri said all official bodies are obligated to abide by the directive and thereby make moneychangers return to their original mandate–which had taken on the job of banks in transferring money during the sanctions.

"If anyone wishes to purchase currency from moneychangers, the rial equivalent and how it will be used must be determined. If someone buys a significant amount of US dollars and its use is unclear, a three-man panel will review the case to prevent any market disruption," he said.

In light of the recent unease in the Iranian currency market, the exchange rate of the greenback crossed the 40,000-rial threshold but the rial regained some ground last week. It was quoted in the free market at 39,500 to the dollar on Saturday.

screwball · January 8, 2017

Referring to the unification of Iran's dual foreign exchange regime that has been in the works for a long time, the official said "it will be implemented the very moment the central bank deems appropriate".

screwball · January 8, 2017

Just now, screwball said:

"The focus on CBI in implementing the policies of Resistance Economy is important and the independence of the country's monetary and banking regulatory body is among the most important issues addressed in the government's new [central bank] bill, which will be delivered to the parliament," he said.

I could be wrong but these bills were presented in December and if I am correct they have 28 days?....

screwball · January 8, 2017

Iran says the final preparations are underway to receive the first plane purchased from the European aviation giant Airbus through a landmark deal last year.

Farhad Parvaresh, the managing director of the country’s flag carrier Iran Air, was quoted by local media as saying that the plane – an A321 – was officially registered under Iran Air ownership on Saturday.

According to Parvaresh, the plane will arrive in Iran by Friday, and will have on board members of an Iran Air team, who have been attending Airbus flight operations training courses in France for months.

The official emphasized that the Airbus crew were installing the Persian-language messaging mechanisms on the plane.

This would be Iran’s first brand-new plane in over 37 years. The country’s current fleet is comprised of planes purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. All post-1979 purchases that were made with a variety of providers involved second-hand planes.

“Iran Air has made the necessary arrangements for the incoming A321 to be used for domestic flights,” Parvaresh was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency. “Nevertheless, it could also be used for international flights if required.”

The official further said he hoped Iran Air would take delivery of more Airbus aircraft by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (21 March 2017).

In December, Iran finalized a deal with Airbus worth an estimated amount of $18 billion to purchase 100 new planes.

The deal - which was initially signed in Paris back in January 2016 – covered 46 Airbus A320 planes, 38 A330 planes and 16 A350 XWB aircraft, with deliveries due to begin in early 2017.

The A321 is within the A320 family of planes. It is about 7 meters longer than the A320 and has more seats.

screwball · January 8, 2017

Iran attracts $7.2b in finance from three foreign banks

Iran has managed to attract 7.2 billion dollars in finance from three foreign banks, the vice governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced on Saturday.

Gholamali Kamyab said attracting $10 billion of foreign finance has been defined as a project for the CBI in the area of Resistance Economy, Tasnim News Agency reported.

He made the remarks in a meeting with CBI officials, which was attended by First Vice-President Es’haq Jahangiri in Tehran.

The measures taken by the CBI in this regard include extensive talks with some foreign banks, such as the Export–Import (Exim) Bank of China, Italy’s Mediobanca and Denmark’s Danske Bank, he noted.

The CBI vice governor added that up to now, 72 percent of the project has been implemented.

There has been a new wave of interest in ties with Iran since Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries – Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany – reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear program in 2015.

The comprehensive nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), terminated all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.

screwball · January 8, 2017

ran approved the attraction of $11.8 billion in foreign direct investment during the 12 months to December 21.

Of this sum, $11.33 billion pertain to greenfield and $496 million to brownfield investments, according to a report recently published in the government's official website.

The report was published in the runup to the anniversary of the implementation of Iran’s historic nuclear deal with world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, on January 16, 2016. The deal, signed in July 2015, granted Iran relief from years of economic sanctions in exchange for rolling back the scope of its nuclear program.

The deal opened the gates to an inflow of foreign capital to rebuild infrastructures worn out and underdeveloped under the sanctions at a time when the country faced a nosedive in the price of oil, which has traditionally been the government's main source of revenues.

Although the government is working to do away with petrodollars to finance its development projects, authorities have no illusion that foreign investment is crucial for reviving its economy.

According to the report, water and energy (including renewables) projects had the largest share of FDI approved during the period with $8.1 billion going to 35 projects.

Iran is banking on foreign investment and technology to add thousands of megawatts to its power generation capacity while upgrading its aging national electricity grid. The Islamic Republic’s installed electricity production capacity, which is currently at 75,000 MW, should reach 105,000 MW under the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21).

This means there is need to raise power production capacity by more than 5,000 MW per year. The country needs $50 billion in its electricity sector, including $35 billion in power production and $15 billion for transmission projects.

Measures have also been taken to prop up investment in renewable energy infrastructure. The installed capacity of renewable sources is planned to increase by 100 MW in the current fiscal year that ends in March 2017. Iran's total installed power generation capacity for renewables, including wind and solar, is close to 250 megawatts. Plans have been made to raise the capacity to 300 MW by 2018.

As part of efforts to cap emissions from greenhouse gases, Iran informed the Paris Climate Conference last year that it would produce up to 7,500 MW from renewable sources. This requires at least $12 billion in investment.

The government report also shows that services and tourism (a total of 17 projects worth $1.53 billion) and industries and mining ($1.53 billion for 48 projects) stood at second and third places in attracting the largest amount of FDI during the period under review.

According to Chairman of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization Mehdi Karbasian, development of Iran's mining sector alone needs close to $50 billion in foreign investment.

“About $30 billion of the figure will need to be invested in the steel industry and its downstream sectors, and the rest in copper, aluminum and other industries," Karbasian was quoted as saying last month.

According to the government report, FDIs were also approved in the sectors of agriculture ($512 million for eight projects), transportation and telecommunications (three projects worth $259 million) and construction ($6 billion in two projects).

A majority of investments are made in North Khorasan Province with $3.37 billion in five projects followed by East Azarbaijan with $1.5 billion in seven projects and Sistan-Baluchestan with $1.2 billion in five projects.

Europe took the lead in the size of investment, with Spain investing in a $3.2-billion project, followed by Germany with $2.96 billion in 17 projects and China with $895 million in 11 projects.

screwball · January 8, 2017

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will pay an official visit to Iran later this month to attend an economic meeting in Tehran.

The French foreign minister will arrive in Tehran late in January to participate in a session of Iran-France joint economic commission, which is slated to be held with the participation of the two countries’ officials.

Iran and France will reportedly hold the economic session after some 17 years.

Former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius paid a day-long visit to Tehran in late July at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. He held talks with senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, Zarif, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh and Head of the Department of the Environment, Massoumeh Ebtekar.

Fabius’ visit to Iran, the first by a French foreign minister to the Islamic Republic in 12 years, came few months after Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China - plus Germany started implementing the nuclear agreement they signed last year.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries signed the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on July 14, 2015.

During the Iranian president’s historic visit to Paris in January 2016, Iran and France signed a series of basic trade deals thought to be worth billions of dollars.

Rouhani and his French peer Francois Hollande oversaw the signing of the deals that concerned cooperation in a range of sectors such as aviation, car manufacturing and oil among others.

screwball · January 8, 2017

Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei underscored the necessity of creating a buoyant economy driven by domestic production to help boost the Islamic Republic's clout.

"Making economic progress and solving people's problems are among factors that contribute to building national might," Ayatollah Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website.

He made the statement during a meeting with people from the central holy city of Qom in Tehran on Sunday.

The Leader called for measures to effectively address economic problems of the country, noting that "sanctions were primarily aimed at creating economic woes and putting pressure on the people to alienate them from the establishment."

International sanctions against the Islamic Republic were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers in return for temporary curbs on its nuclear program.

But much to Iran's frustration, foreign investors and bankers have held back from its economy, citing the remaining non-nuclear US restrictions. As a result, few deals have gone through since the historic pact took effect a year ago.

Residual US restrictions prohibit international firms and banks from using the US financial system to process dollar-denominated transactions involving Iranians.

They have learned a lesson from what some of their counterparts went through in the past over a breach of the bans, even though unwittingly, by suffering hefty US fines and this has made them unwilling to approach Iranians for trade.

"Even in removing the sanctions, they act in a way that ensures that the problems persist," the Leader said.

"As I have repeatedly said, the antidote that would help thwart such hostile plots is Resistance Economy."

Resistance Economy is an economic concept outlined by Ayatollah Khamenei to bolster national production and limit the country's dependence on oil revenues.

screwball · January 8, 2017

Anotice of discontinuance of cash subsidies will be sent to three million Iranians by text message, says Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei.

He added that they can object upon receiving the message and their case will be reviewed by officials.

So far, the government of President Hassan Rouhani has delisted about seven million people from among the recipients of cash payments, Eghtesad Online reported.

As part of the so-called "Cash Subsidy Plan", the administration of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad removed subsidies on food and energy, and instead paid 450,000 rials ($11.25 at market exchange rate) to almost all Iranians on a monthly basis.

However, with the government's tight budget in the light of reduced oil revenues, it has become increasingly difficult to sustain the controversial program.

In April 2016, Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, the head of Majlis Economic Commission, announced that the government has been tasked by the parliament to remove 24 million people from the list of cash subsidy recipients and spend the saved financial resources on job creation.

screwball · January 8, 2017

This could b interesting...last time that had rioting in the streets by memory...

screwball · January 8, 2017

Let's hope they learnt from last time..

screwball · January 9, 2017

Economy
Domestic Economy

Monday, January 09, 2017

Iran Receives 1st Airbus Jet

An Iran Air team is in Hamburg, Germany, where the plane has been assembled, to prepare it for delivery in Tehran on Thursday after it is transferred to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France

Iran Air has taken the delivery of an Airbus A321, which will be the first jetliner to be delivered to Iran from among 100 planes the French planemaker has agreed to supply after the lifting of economic sanctions last year.

The flag carrier’s CEO Farhad Parvaresh said on Sunday an Iran Air team was in Hamburg, Germany, to prepare the plane for its delivery later this week.

“Based on what we know … an Iran Air pilot will land the plane on Thursday,” he was quoted by the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development's news service as saying.

Airbus confirmed Iran Air had received its first new jet.

“The technical acceptance has been done with formal delivery still to be done,” an Airbus spokesman was quoted as saying by Reuters.

A spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization also said the aircraft has been placed on the country's aircraft register.

"The registration has been done and the delivery should be done by the end of the week," Reza Jafarzadeh told Reuters by telephone.

The 189-seat jet was assembled in Hamburg. From there, it is expected to be transferred to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, for a formal handover on Wednesday.

Parvaresh said there would be an official ceremony to mark the arrival of the plane in Tehran. He also noted that the plane will be initially used in domestic flights upon delivery.

The Airbus A321 jetliner, painted in Iran Air livery, will be the first plane from a multibillion dollar order Iran secured last month.

The deal took weeks of shuttling between Airbus headquarters and Tehran, complicated by a shortage of expert legal advice, as Iran completes its biggest commercial deals with the West since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Airbus had said almost half the jets would be for short to medium routes and that deliveries would start early 2017.

Iran had said it expected the delivery of a total of eight Airbus planes, including one A321 narrow-body and two long-range A330s, along with ATR planes by March 20.

The contract Iran signed with Airbus on December 22 includes 46 of the narrow-body A320 family that includes the A321 model, 38 long-haul A330s and 16 of Europe's newest long-range model, the A350.

Such a deal would be worth $18-20 billion at list prices, depending on variants flown, but Iran is expected to receive steep discounts from foreign manufacturers.

The head of Iran Air was quoted as saying earlier that the value of the contract would not exceed $10 billion.

It is expected to be followed by a formal deal to buy 20 turboprop aircraft from ATR, half-owned by Airbus.

> Financing Process Making Headway

Parvaresh said Iran Air will use an Airbus backstop financing for the first six deliveries, but the rest will be financed by third-party international financiers.

So far two financiers, one from a Persian Gulf littoral state and another from China, have offered to finance the planes, he said, without further elaboration.

Industry sources said in September that Iran was in advanced talks with global aerospace corporation Dubai Aerospace about financing the purchase.

“We have a deal to finance the first 17 aircraft,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters, without elaborating.

Dubai Aerospace and Airbus both declined to comment.

Based on the financing model agreed in the contract, Iran will pay less than 20% of the cost of the planes, and the rest will be covered by financing companies.

Sukuk Sale

Iran Air is also planning to sell $500 million worth of sukuk bonds to cover a portion of what the company should pay in cash to Airbus.

The Airbus contract came days after Iran signed a similar deal with the planemaker's American rival Boeing for 80 jets.

All sides have an interest in moving quickly. The Iranian government wants to show results from the nuclear deal it clinched with the world powers in July 2015, Airbus wants to get deliveries moving and Boeing wants the leverage it can get from European deliveries to Iran.

Despite rivalries, the Airbus and Boeing deals with Iran are unusually intertwined because each depends on continued US clearances for the sale of planes built with US parts.

The ability to renew Iran's aging and accident-prone fleet is widely viewed as a test of the pragmatist policies of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ahead of presidential elections in May.

As it stands, the first Airbus will be delivered before the January 20 inauguration of US president-elect, Donald Trump, who has opposed an international deal to lift sanctions in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear activities.

Although Airbus said the deal was subject to US Treasury export licenses granted in September and November 2016, Republican critics of the nuclear pact want Trump to block the aircraft deals and have sought to hamper them by voting to tighten restrictions on the use of the US financial system.

screwball · January 9, 2017

فرود نخستین هواپیمای ایرباس 350 در فرودگاه مهرآباد

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran will receive the first jetliner from a series of aircraft it has bought from European plane manufacturer Airbus on Thursday, January 12, an official announced.

Managing Director of Iran Air Farhad Parvaresh said on Sunday that the brand-new passenger plane, an A321, is expected to land in Tehran on Thursday.

The plane will take off from Germany’s Hamburg with Iranian pilots, he noted, saying it will be used for domestic flights.

During a January 2016 visit to Paris by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tehran signed a major contract with Airbus worth about $27 billion to buy 118 planes.

Iran and Airbus intensified business negotiations in October 2016 following the US decision to remove a final hurdle for Western aircraft manufacturers to sell planes to Iran under contracts signed after coming into force of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

While Western plane makers are very keen on trade with Iran, Washington still demands that even non-American manufacturers wishing to sell to Iran obtain an export license if their products include materials made in the United States. Airbus, based in Europe, buys more than 40 percent of all its aircraft parts from the US.

Iran sealed another deal in June worth around $25 billion with the US aerospace heavyweight, Boeing, for the purchase of 100 passenger planes.

In December, the deal with Boing was finalized, allowing Iran to buy 80 planes within 10 years. The first deliveries are expected in 2018.

screwball · January 9, 2017

TEHRAN, Jan. 08 (MNA) – Head of Tavanir Arash Kordi said an Iranian delegation has travelled to Iraq in order to extend the electricity sale contract.

On causes of the halt in electricity exports to Iraq, Managing Director of Iran's Power Generation, Distribution and Transfer Company (TAVANIR) Arash Kordi said the issue exports were brought to a stop due to the expiry of the contract and resumption of the process would require a new amendment to the contract.”

“The new agreement needs to be modified in accordance with current circumstances and the changes in currency prices among other major issues,” stressed the official noting that an Iranian delegation, comprising Tavanir deputies, have been deployed to the neighboring country to conduct negotiations on setting new provisions in the contract.

Kordi highlighted that the Iranian and Iraqi sides always worked together even though the Iranian team would hold talks with Iraqis on revenue collection procedures; “the cut in electricity exports was caused merely because the period of contract was over,” the official reiterated.

In response to a question on possibility of an uplift in volume of electricity exports to Iraq, Tavanir head explained that general conditions had been laid in that regard though the issue would become clear once negotiations become finalized.”

Meanwhile, Arash Kordi commented that the Iraqi power grid did not allow room for a boost in Iran’s electricity export as well as that Iran’s domestic consumption would rise in summer which again would make it impossible to augment export figures.

“Presently, an average of 700 to 1000 megawatts of electricity are being exported to Iraq,” said the official concluding that exports to the neighboring country will be restarted in one month’s time.

screwball · January 9, 2017

Just now, screwball said:

The new agreement needs to be modified in accordance with current circumstances and the changes in currency prices among other major issues,” s

Lol...nice garry

screwball · January 9, 2017

TEHRAN, Jan. 08 (MNA) – Director of the Public Relations Department at Arya Sasol Polymer Company (ASPC) cited Resistance Economy as a triumphant model for prosperity of Iran's petrochemical industry.

Talking to Mehr News reporter, Faramarz Parizi reiterated that despite restrictions due to nuclear sanctions, the industry has managed to implement the policy of the Resistance Economy as instructed by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The Leader had outlined the general policies of Iran’s Resistance Economy in a decree issued on February 19.

As part of the program, the government must take action to promote “knowledge-based economy and domestic production, especially in strategic products and services, and the consequent reduction of dependence on imports.”

The decree also encourages greater privatization and increased exports of goods and services through legal and administrative reforms as well as foreign investment for export purposes.

Citing ethylene, low density polyethylene, medium/ high density polyethylene and by products as the main products of the company, Parizi added protecting the environment is one of the company’s core values.

He added the company has developed several environmental principles for proving its commitment to do the business in environmentally responsible ways waste minimization, emission management and respecting biodiversity.

'As a major gas olefin production company in Assalouyeh, ASPC, has engaged more than 930 skilled workforce directly and 2,500 others indirectly,' he said.

Parizi said his company's mission is production of high quality ethylene and polyethylene in a healthy, safe and environment friendly atmosphere, with special outlook to human assets and optimal management of resources to meet the needs of customers and other beneficiaries of the organization.

He underscored that 89 percent of the company productions would be exported to the global markets and the rest would be sold in the domestic markets.

Parizi put the annual feedstock of the company at 1.2 million tons of pure ethane, received from Fars Petrochemical Company, and one million tons of ethane and 100,000 tons of side products like propane are obtained from it. The olefin unit of Arya Sasol Polymer Company is the biggest ethylene production unit worldwide, 100 percent of its feedstock supplied out of gas.

In July 2016, ASPC broke its production record in the previous Iranian calendar year which ended on March 19, Shana wrote.

The plant supplied over 1.5 million tons of ethylene and different kinds of polymer products over the year which increased 12.4% year-over-year, setting a new record in the plant's history.

ASPC produced over 929 tons of ethylene during the same year, up by 14% year-on-year, the highest amount since the company's establishment in early 2000s.

Furthermore, the medium and dense polyethylene output by ASPC stood at 305,525 tons which well exceeds the unit's nameplate production capacity, rising 38% from an earlier year.

The Arya Sasol Polymer Company is producer of ethylene and polyethylene in Assalouyeh in South Pars Energy Special Economic Zone, covering an area of 72 hectares in Persian Gulf coasts and in the far western part of the first phase of the petrochemical projects around exporting port.

The installed petrochemical industry capacity of the country is nearly 63 million tons/year and by the next nine years will reach 130 million tons.

Asalouyeh port is 280 kms from south of Bushehr Province, hosting implementation of South Pars gas field development projects. It has 27 jetties with the capacity of receiving more than 43 million tons/year export consignments. Concurrently high tonnage ships can berth in the port's jetty.

screwball · January 9, 2017

Iran sells 13m barrels of oil held on tankers at sea

Iran has sold more than 13 million barrels of oil that it had long held on tankers at sea, capitalizing on an OPEC output cut deal from which it is exempted to regain market share and court new buyers, according to industry sources and data.

In the past three months, Tehran has sold almost half the oil it had held in floating storage, Reuters reported.

The amount of Iranian oil held at sea has dropped to 16.4 million barrels, from 29.6 million barrels at the beginning of October, according to Thomson Reuters Oil Flows data.

Before that sharp drop, the level had barely changed in 2016; it was 29.7 million barrels at the start of last year, the data showed.

Unsold oil is now tying up about 12 to 14 Iranian tankers, out of its fleet of about 60 vessels, compared with around 30 in the summer, according to two tanker-tracking sources.

The oil sold in recent months has gone to buyers in Asia including China, India and South Korea and to European countries including Italy and France, according to the sources and data.

Iran is also looking to use the opportunity to push into new markets in Europe, including Baltic and other central and eastern European countries, said separate oil industry sources, though it was not clear if any oil had been sold there.

Tehran scored a victory when it was exempted from the OPEC deal agreed in November to reduce production by 1.2 million barrels per day for six months — an accord aimed at addressing the global oversupply and bolstering low oil prices.

The country successfully argued it should not limit its production which was slowly starting to recover after the lifting of international sanctions in January last year.

Iran has relied on its tanker fleet to park excess stocks until it can find buyers. The tanker-tracking sources said it was unclear how much of the oil stored at sea was condensate, a very light grade of crude.

In another sign of the rising activity, Shana reported in late December that the number of tankers able to berth at major terminal Kharg Island had reached a record in 2016 of 10 vessels at the same time.

"Iran got its way at OPEC and the Saudis agreed not to limit their capabilities. Iran will go ahead and look to export whatever they can for winter demand (globally)," said Mehdi Varzi, a former official at NIOC who is now an independent global industry consultant.

"This is a commercial policy of trying to get rid of a lot of their crude oil on tankers as holding oil on tankers is very expensive."

Many foreign ship insurers have resumed providing cover for Iranian vessels in recent months, which has also given Iran more scope to use its tankers to make deliveries or carry out ship to ship oil transfers rather deploying them for storage.

screwball · January 9, 2017