In a recent rebuttal to statements made by some of Iran’s presidential candidates, the country’s oil minister, Javad Oji, asserted that the 13th government has not offered “high discounts” to its oil customers.
On Saturday, June 22, Oji emphasized that over the past three years, the discounts on Iran’s oil sales have been “far less” compared to those offered by the 11th and 12th administrations.
This statement comes in the wake of a Reuters report, citing industry sources, that claimed Iran offered a $13 per barrel discount to Chinese refineries for its oil exports last year.
Additionally, data from oil tanker tracking companies like Vortexa and Tanker Trackers indicate that Iran exported 1.3 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate daily in the previous year, alongside more than 220,000 barrels of mazut.
OPEC estimated the price of Iran’s export oil to be over $83 per barrel last year, not accounting for discounts or the costs associated with circumventing sanctions.
Based on these estimates, Iran should have earned at least $46 billion from its exports of crude oil, gas condensate, and mazut.
However, Iranian customs statistics report only $36 billion in revenue, suggesting that approximately 22% of Iran’s oil revenues were spent on bypassing sanctions and providing discounts.
During the ongoing election campaign, two of the regime’s presidential candidates Masoud Pezeshkian and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf criticized the sanctions and the significant discounts and financial losses resulting from Iran’s oil exports.
In response, Oji claimed that Iran currently has “15 oil customers,” although he did not specify which countries besides China and Syria purchase Iranian oil. He also stated that many refineries adjust their processing systems at significant expense to handle Iranian crude oil.
Contradicting international reports and statistics, Oji claimed that Iran’s daily crude oil production has reached 3.6 million barrels.
However, OPEC and the International Energy Agency report figures below 3.3 million barrels per day. On the topic of gas production, Oji asserted that Iran has outpaced Qatar in extracting gas from the South Pars joint field, producing 710 million cubic meters of gas daily.
Yet, Iran’s National Gas Company data shows that only 610 million cubic meters per day are delivered to refineries, with 510 million cubic meters being injected into the national pipelines after refining.
Oji also mentioned a 5.2% average annual increase in gas production in recent years, despite sanctions.
This claim, too, is inconsistent with statistics from the National Gas Company and international reports.
According to the National Gas Company, the average growth in Iran’s gas production over the past three years has been 2% annually.
British company BP’s statistics show that while Iran’s gas production growth was above 5% annually over the last decade, it dropped to 2.8% in 2021, 1.1% in 2022, and around 1.6% last year.
These discrepancies highlight the ongoing challenges and complexities facing Iran’s energy sector amid international sanctions and internal political scrutiny.
