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]]>National Iranian volleyball team became champions of Asia after defeating Japan in three straight sets (27-25; 25-22; 31-29).
The 21st Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship was held from Sept. 12 to 19 in Chiba, Japan, and the participating teams vied for two spots in next year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Russia.
At the end of the competitions, the Iranian coach Behrouz Ataei was introduced as the best coach in Asia, while the Iranian player Saber Kazemi was also named the most valuable player in the competitions.
This was Iran’s fourth win in the Asian championships, while Japan have won the title nine times so far.
By advancing the final, both Iran and Japan booked their tickets at the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship already on Saturday.
The FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship will be held in Russia from Aug. 26 to Sept. 11, 2022 with the participation of 24 teams.
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]]>Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development for International Affairs Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan was quoted by Press TV as saying that nine financial institutions from Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Britain, China and Japan had already approached Iran to fund the purchases.
He did not disclose the names of the interested financers.
Nevertheless, he underlined that arrangements to hold a tender to choose the financier for the purchases were underway, adding that tender documents would be sent out to potential bidders within a month.
Last week, he was quoted by THE media as saying that Britain’s key export credit agency — UK Export Finance (UKEF) — had informed Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development that it was ready to provide funding for all of Iran’s purchases from Boeing and Airbus.
He stressed that Iran wanted to have an open hand in choosing the best financiers and that a tender to this effect would be held soon.
“Iran Air is preparing the tender documents so that they would be sent to all credible financiers worldwide,” Fakhrieh Kashan told IRNA.
“We are in conditions that permit us to choose our desired financiers in a competitive atmosphere that a tender creates.”
Also, Iran’s media last October quoted an unidentified government official as saying that Boeing had sealed a deal with an American bank to provide financing for Iran’s purchase of airliners in cooperation with a Japanese bank.
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]]>Following exports of the first naphtha cargo to the United Arab Emirates by OPEC Affairs Department of the Ministry of Petroleum, a second package, with a volume of 280 thousand barrels, has been deployed to Japan.
The second shipped cargo is expected to reach destination in coming days.
Setareh Khalij Fars Refinery, as the first condensate-based refinery, enjoys a capacity of 360 thousand barrels per day and comprises distillation units, liquefied gas refining, catalytic converter, naphtha refining, isomerization, refined kerosene and gas oil.
Situated in vicinity of Bandar Abbas refinery, the complex is in final stages of construction and aims to produce gasoline, diesel, LPG and jet fuel.
The required feed for Setareh Khalij Fars Refinery will be supplied through a 485-km pipeline derived refineries of South Pars gas field.
Upon completion, the project will increase the country’s gasoline and gas oil output capacity by 36 and 14 million liters respectively.
Also, Setareh Khalij project is expected to yield four million liters of LPG, three million liters of jet fuel as well as 130 tons of sulfur per day. The refinery enjoys about 11 million barrels of capacity for storing petroleum products.
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]]>The biggest deal is reserved for Japan’s Marubeni, Chiyoda and Mitsui companies to upgrade Isfahan refinery, Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi told reporters in Tehran, Press TV reported.
“Negotiations have been held with the three companies and the deal for this massive refining project worth $3.6 billion is expected to be finalized soon,” he said.
Another $2-billion contract is about to be signed with South Korea’s Daelim to boost oil processing capacity at Isfahan refinery, Kazemi added.
However, the most imminent contract, valued at $3 billion, is expected to be concluded within the next couple of weeks with the Chinese to develop and improve the quality of Abadan refinery.
Kazemi predicted the formal implementation of the project beginning in the current Iranian month, which started on January 21, with the participation of energy officials from the two countries as well as senior directors of China’s SINOPEC company.
The scheme is planned to cut furnace oil production at the plant to about 20 percent from the current 40 percent, the official said.
China has opened $1.3-billion credit line to financier the plan, he said, adding another $1.7 billion is expected to be opened in the spring.
Iran plans to sign contracts worth $14 billion to fix and upgrade the quality of Tehran, Bandar Abbas, Isfahan, Tabriz and Abadan refineries, said Kazemi who is also managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company.
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]]>Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Terminals Company (NIOTC) Pirouz Mousavi was quoted by Press TV as saying that the Japan-bound consignment contained 160,000 barrels of condensate from South Pars phases 20 and 21.
He added that a 300-ton Japanese vessel had lifted the consignment from phases 20 and 21 as well as another from phases 2, 3, 4 and 5.
He did not specify how much had been loaded from other phases but it could stand at several hundred of thousands of barrels.
Mousavi added that the vessel — named ‘Fujikawa’ — was also to load 650,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran’s Forouzan oilfield before leaving for Japan.
Iran announced in December that it was already expanding the market for its condensate, which can be used to make both fuel and plastic.
Masoud Hassani, the managing director of South Pars Gas Complex, told the domestic media at the time that the country had sent its first cargo of one million barrels of condensate to Europe.
In September, indications grew that condensate had already found a special position in Iran’s exports.
The media quoted officials as saying at the time that exports of the ultra-light oil over a period of five months from March 21, 2016 stood at above seven million tons, showing an increase of 76 percent compared to the figure for the same period last year.
South Korea is a key importer of Iran’s condensate. In June, Reuters reported that the country’s imports of condensate from Iran could reach a record level of six million barrels — or 200,000 barrels a day – over the month.
Reuters said it had used figures provided by traders to make the estimate given that South Korea does not provide separate data on imports of condensate.
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]]>Deputy Head of NIOC for Development and Engineering Affairs Gholamreza Manouchehri said “a list recently published by National Iranian Oil Company was relevant to applicants from Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Japan, China and South Korea which had been qualified in Pre-Qualified Iran’s Oil and Gas Upstream Projects Tender Round.”
“Names of Lukoil and Gazprom from Russia were on the list,” highlighted the official asserting that a second list of qualified foreign companies will be soon released.
Manouchehri, while estimating that Russian firms, whose name were among qualified candidates, will be present in the second, underlined that NIOC has inked Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Russia’s Zarubezhneft and Tatneft both of whom were absent in the first published list.
“NIOC must have approved of all firms with which a cooperation agreement has been inked,” noted the official.
He further maintained that claims on disqualification of Russian firms reiterated that Iran welcomed cooperation with credible Russian parties who held new technologies.
National Iranian Oil Company has so far sealed MoUs with seven Russian oil giants for development projects or boosting recovery factor in various oil and gas fields.
Accordingly, research and development MoUs have been signed with Russian firms like Lukoil, Tatneft, Zarubezhneft and Gazprom for expansion of seven Iranian oilfields including Mansouri, Ab Teimour, Aban, West Paydar, Dehloran, Cheshmeh Khoshk and Chenguleh.
Accordingly, Russian firms enjoy the highest rate of cooperation in upstream sector of Iran’s oil and gas industry as compared with Asian or European companies.
Nevertheless, names of Russneft, Tatneft and Zarubezhneft were missing on the recently-published list by NIOC giving rise to hypotheses that the three Russian oil giants had been disqualified.
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]]>Managing Director of Iran‘s Petroleum Engineering and Development Company Noureddin Shahnazizadeh said that Inpex signed a memorandum of understanding on the project last June and with the passage of six-month study period, a final proposal is expected soon, said, Kyodo News reported.
Inpex — which previously held a 75-percent stake in the project but pulled out in 2010 amid US sanctions on Iran — was the first foreign company to sign a memorandum last year on the oilfield which is one of the largest in the world.
However, it has four major rivals — Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and China National Petroleum Corp. — which have also started assessments and begun to send proposals.
“Inpex is one of the good names in the oil industry and as it has experience and data regarding Azadegan, it is one step ahead of its rivals and has a chance to win the Azadegan tender,” Shahnazizadeh said.
Japanese companies have earlier encountered major obstacles in doing business in the Iranian oil and petrochemical industries.
A multibillion-yen petrochemical project by Iran-Japan Petrochemical Company came to an end in 1991 without getting off the ground due to the prolonged Iran-Iraq war.
“There is no remaining conflict between Iran and Japan from the past over Azadegan,” Shahnazizadeh asserted, noting, “We understood Inpex’s situation when they were forced to leave the project, and now they are welcome again.”
According to Shahnazizadeh, Total has already handed over a final proposal for the project, while Inpex and CNPC will submit their presentations soon.
The deal is expected to be completed around the first quarter of 2017, and the contractor will be chosen by summer.
Technical, financial and recovery factors will determine the winning bid, Shahnazizadeh said.
West Karoun oil region, which includes the Azadegan and Yadavaran oilfields, which has a 67-billion-barrel deposit of crude oil, has a contract value of some $25 billion.
About $9 billion has already been invested in West Karoun, but Shahnazizadeh stopped short of specifying how much the Azadegan contract alone is worth.
International companies started negotiations to return to the Iranian market after Iran inked a landmark deal with world powers in 2015 to modify its nuclear activities in return for an end to economic sanctions.
Only companies that Iranian authorities determine as contributing to the transfer of modern technology to Iran are recognized as ‘qualified’.
“Iran expects Japan to transfer and apply the use of modern technology in exploration, drilling and recovering to increase the rate of recovery, which is the most important criteria for Iran,” Shahnazizadeh said.
During heavy sanctions from 2010 to 2015, Iran’s oil production fell to nearly one million barrels per day. Japan nevertheless remained the third-largest importer of Iranian crude oil, after South Korea and China.
Japan was also the only country that accepted insurance risks through the period and transferred oil from Iran on its own vessels — a move that Shahnazizadeh described as ‘unforgettable loyalty’.
The Japanese government signed an investment pact in February to help Japanese companies do business there amid intensifying foreign competition.
Then in February, the government-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance gave Iran a credit of up to $10 billion.
Iranian officials said they hope political issues, especially recent changes in the United States, will not negatively impact cooperation between Iran and Japan, as was the case in 2010.
“I believe we will have a very close and friendly relations with Japan in the oil sector in the future, as long as a third party doesn’t impact our relations negatively again,” Shahnazizadeh said.
Apart from Inpex, which is the only Japanese company that has signed a memorandum of understanding in Iran’s oil upstream, five other Japanese companies are recognized as qualified to participate in downstream projects like petrochemical and refinery.
After the lifting of sanctions, Iran’s oil production increased and reached 3.5 mbd within nine months, returning to the same level as in 2011.
Oil industry officials aim to keep increasing output in coordination with multinational companies.
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]]>Iran’s heavy crude oil in the week to December 16 experienced highest increase in price and reached $51.07 a barrel, showing $2.02 increase, IRNA reported.
Iran’s Petroleum Ministry announced that Japan’s crude imports dropped to 67,000 barrels per day in October 2016 compared to the figure for the same month last year and reached 3.055 million barrels per day.
Japan’s imports from Saudi Arabia rose by 205,000 barrels per day in October against the amount for the same month the year before and reached 1.262 million barrels. Saudi Arabia, with a 41-percent share in the country’s imports, is considered the most important crude oil exporter to Japan.
In the period under study, exports of cruse from the UAE to Japan fell by one percent, or 9,000 barrels per day, and reached 688,000 barrels per day.
The UAE, which has a 23-percent share in Japan imports, stands second among crude exporters to the country.
Qatar’s share in Japan’s imports is 7.2 percent. It stands third among oil exporters to Japan.
According to the Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW), export of crude oil to Japan by Kuwait and Iran rose by 22,000 barrels per day and 49,000 barrels per day respectively in October and reached 214,000 barrels per day and 202,000 barrels per day respectively.
Shares of Kuwait and Iran in Japan imports are seven and 6.6 percent respectively. Kuwait and Iran are the fourth and fifth major crude exporters to Japan respectively.
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Speaking at a press conference, Director for Investment of National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Hossein Alimorad described the most major plans for attraction of investment to the country’s petrochemical industry saying “a contract has been recently inked with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to reopen a 320-million-euro Line of Credit (LOC).”
The official also referred to new negotiations with yet another Japanese firm to reopen an LOC worth 640 million euros asserting “talks with the Japanese side are in final stages of drafting the contract which is estimated to be sealed within weeks.”
He also pointed to the visit of an Iranian delegation to Berlin at the invitation of Iran’s Embassy in Germany; “the trip aims to launch a fresh round of negotiations with banks, insurance firms as well as companies willing to make direct investment in the Iranian petchem industry.”
“Final agreement has been reached with Germany’s Hermes Insurance firm in the course of recent talks,” stressed Alimorad noting that the German side has agreed to take out insurance against new investments in petrochemical industries of Iran.
The NPC official also touched upon the held talks with German banks on attracting investment to the industry stating “a short-term scenario has been finalized based on which investment attraction will be performed under the guarantee of NPC as the government’s representative.”
In response to a question on the amount of investment by German companies, NPC’s director for investment said in the first step, agreement has been reached on reopening three billion euros of LOC while three to six more billion euros are expected to be opened in the second phase.
Negotiations have also been conducted with German firms on making 12 billion euros of new investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry
“Negotiations have also been conducted with German firms on making 12 billion euros of new investment in Iran’s petrochemical industry in addition to the three-billion-euro Line of Credit,” reiterated Alimorad adding “two senior officials of a giant German petchem company will soon travel to Tehran in order to finalize earlier talks as well as to evaluate NPC’s proposed economic projects.”
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Report: Facilitating investment in Iran petrochemical industry
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]]>Zanganeh told a televised interview, “We use different methods for financing and there is not the possibility for attraction of all the needed capital through contracts.”
On the contract for export of Iran’s LNG to Korea, Zanganeh said as for the LNG exports contract package it should be said that it should be the kind which would envision completion of the LNG factory and repayment of the costs to the contractor out of LNG extraction revenues. “Of course, the Koreans are not the only party in the contract, rather the Germans and Japanese are the other parties.”
He then pointed to the oil output of one to one and half a million barrels out of the new model of oil contracts.
The Minister said diversion of funds out of the domestic sources and the National Development Fund is also on agenda, though it should be born in mind that the fund sources are not unlimited and there are many volunteers for it.
Iran needs 70 billion dollars for the downstream sector development plans
“Securing necessary financial sources to attain the Sixth Five-Year Plan objectives, including 130 billion dollars, for the upstream and about 70 billion dollars for the downstream sector is a very difficult job,” he said.
Zanganeh commented on the latest condition of the Persian Gulf Star refinery and said for the time being, kerosene and gasoil are transferred in the refinery but high quality gasoline production at the refinery will start as early as 2017.
Sessions are regularly held to follow up the Persian Gulf Star refinery project and works are going on well, he added.
The minister said petrochemical revenues of Iran have now reached 25 billion dollars from one billion dollars in 1997.
He added that plans are underway to raise value of the petrochemical products by five billion dollars by end of this year (to end on March 20) to more than 30 billion dollars.
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