Speaking to Shana, Behzad Babazadeh, director of international affairs at National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said Yerevan demands to increase the volume of its gas imports from Iran from currently 1 million cubic meters per day to 1.6 mcm/d. Iran and Armenia have signed a contract to barter the former’s natural gas for Armenia’s electricity. Babzadeh added that although the ...

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, pushed up by ongoing supply cuts from producer cartel OPEC and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. International Brent crude oil futures were at $66.85 a barrel at 0341 GMT, up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $57.12 per barrel, up 25 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their last settlement.   Oil prices ...

Operator of South Pars Phase 13 development project said the onshore refinery of the phase was ready for startup with 56.6 mcm/d of production capacity. Speaking to Shana, Payam Motamed said the all units of the facility were complete and it was ready for official inauguration. Phase 13 is being developed with an investment of nearly $5 billion which can ...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani voiced Iran’s readiness to export natural gas to neighboring Iraq. Addressing a joint trade conference by Iran and Iraq in Baghdad on Monday evening, the Iranian president said Iran was ready to develop relations in various sectors, including energy, electricity and gas supplies to Iraq, and link Iran’s railroad network to Iraq. Arguing that expanding relations ...

By Tsvetana Paraskova Some newly elected Iraqi lawmakers, linked with populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr whose alliance won the elections last month, are not sure that Baghdad’s participation in the OPEC production cut deal is good for the country. Some new members-elect of Iraq’s parliament think that Iraq should be able to export as much crude oil as it wants, ...

According to the CIF-based swap deal, Iran receives 30,000 to 60,000 bpd of oil from Kirkuk oil fields in northern Iraq to an Iranian refinery across the border via tanker trucks, in exchange for oil for southern Iraq. On Sunday, the tankers offloaded their cargoes at storage tanks in Iran’s Darreh Shahr, the western province of Ilam, which were installed ...

By Tsvetana Paraskova Saudi Aramco’s much-hyped initial public offering is “most likely” to take place in 2019, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Friday, likely confirming that plans for the IPO have been pushed from this year to next. “We’re simply waiting for a market readiness for the IPO,” al-Falih said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in ...

By Irina Slav Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has promised to start increasing the crisis-stricken country’s oil production during his second six-year term in office. AFP reports that during his inauguration speech, Maduro said he will seek the help of OPEC to double Venezuela’s oil production, which is currently at 70-year lows and much below its production quota under the OPEC ...

By Nick Cunningham It was only a few weeks ago that top officials from OPEC nations were issuing statements assuring the market that the group’s production cuts would remain in effect through the end of 2018, with the possibility of even extending them into next year. But now, with the Vienna meeting just a few weeks away, OPEC is suddenly ...

By Tsvetana Paraskova  OPEC revised up on Monday its forecast for global oil demand growth this year, but noted that sanctions, tariffs, and the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal point to rising uncertainty over the global economic growth momentum. In its closely watched Monthly Oil Market Report out today, OPEC revised up its global oil demand growth estimate ...