Iran uses various methods to boost oil exports
The Iranian government has prioritized boosting crude and gas condensate exports through new deals, focusing on fresh target markets and utilizing several novel sales methods including bartering.
Total foreign direct investment (FDI) drawn for Iran’s oil and gas sector stood at $5.5 billion via buyback during the tenure of the previous government (August 2013 to August 2021) while from August 2005 to August 2013, the corresponding figure was $16.7 billion, according to IRNA.
The previous government attracted only $35 million in foreign investment for the oil and gas industry during the year to March 2021, but its successor secured $56.7 million in FDI, registering a growth of 62 percent in the year leading up to March 2022, amid harsh sanctions against Iran. Also, the current government, taking office in August 2021, has developed joint oil and gas fields and has signed contracts worth $100 billion using new methods.
The drop in foreign investment in the oil and gas industry under the previous government has resulted in gas shortages and consequently electricity outages throughout the country.
Iran’s oil production and exports have seen a remarkable surge under the current government according to OPEC figures.
Iran’s oils exports drastically decreased after the US imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic when it pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran world powers in 2018. However, Washington failed to bring Iran’s oil sales to
zero.
Now, the conditions the export of oil has been greatly improved as Iran has granted access to its frozen assets overseas.
In October 2021, US President Joe Biden called on importing countries to cut the purchase of Iranian oil in a speech that went against a promise that the White House made to lift sanctions against Iran.
Iran has followed the right track in selling oil. Statistics also show that the country’s economic development with oil has been higher than its growth without oil, which indicates an increase in Iran’s oil revenues.
With the US unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal aimed at bringing the country’s oil exports to nil, crude production began to decline and eventually dropped to 1.9 million barrels per day in 2020, the lowest in the last 25 years.
Also, a large part of Iran’s crude oil and gas condensate reserves which were stored on land and sea reservoirs have been delivered to customers, said Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji.
Although sanctions against Iran are still in force, crude production has now reached 2.8 million bpd, according to OPEC.