Bijan Zanganeh News

OPEC+ agreed on Thursday to gradually ease its oil output cuts from May, after the new U.S. administration called on Saudi Arabia to keep energy affordable for consumers.The group, which has implemented deep cuts since a pandemic-induced oil price collapse in 2020, agreed to ease production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, another 350,000 bpd in June and further 400,000 bpd or so in July.Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, confirmed the group would boost output by a total of 1.1 million bpd by July.In addition…

Iran has asked Indonesia to provide details about the seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday, a day after Jakarta said it had seized Iran and Panama-flagged tankers in its waters.Indonesia said on Sunday its coast guard had seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country’s waters.Khatibzadeh said that the seizure was over a “a technical issue and it happens in shipping field”.“Our Ports Organisation and the ship owner company are looking to find the cause of the issue and resolve it,” Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.Coast guard spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the tankers…

Iranian oil exports have risen sharply in September in defiance of U.S. sanctions, three assessments based on tanker tracking showed, throwing a lifeline to the Islamic Republic and its collapsing economy.Exports have shrunk from over 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) since the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions in 2018. Still, Iran has been working to get around the measures and keep exports flowing.Data from TankerTrackers and two other firms indicated exports are rising in September…

OPEC and it allies held talks on Thursday on record oil output curbs of about 15 million barrels per day (bpd) or more, roughly 15% of global supplies, to support prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis, sources involved in the discussions said.They said the plan included cuts of about 5 million bpd from producers outside the group known as OPEC+ and could be made gradually, as the group seeks to overcome resistance from the United States whose involvement they see as vital to a deal.Talks have been complicated by friction between OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia…

Iran's Director of Ports and Maritime Affairs of Abada, Reza Safari,  announced a 47% increase in exports from Abadan, Arvandkenar and Chouebdeh Ports.During the last 10 months of this year, exports of goods and commodities from Abadan ports has increased by 47%, Reza said.The export volume of goods and commodities in the last 10 months of this year was 27 thousand 735 tons more than in the same period last year.Agricultural products, household appliances and light products, meat and meat products are among the most exported items from the three ports of Abadan, Arvandkenar and Chouebdeh. The destinations of exports from ports of Abadan are Gulf countries including Iraq and Kuwait.Meanwhile…

Iran's crude oil exports have declined slightly in May, according to estimates from a leading tanker-tracking company, in the first sign that the threat of U.S. sanctions may be deterring buyers.The estimates from Geneva-based Petro-Logistics also suggest Iranian oil buyers are not rushing to cut volumes from OPEC's third-largest producer. The U.S. sanctions have a 180-day period during which buyers should "wind down" purchases.U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 said the United…

Oil prices ended down more than 2 percent on Wednesday after hitting a 10-month low in volatile trade, as growing U.S. production and reduced Chinese refinery activity fed mounting concern over the stubborn global crude glut. U.S. crude futures settled at $42.53, down 98 cents or 2.3 percent, after touching a low of $42.13, the lowest intraday level since August 2016. Since peaking in late February, crude has dropped more than 20 percent, with only brief rallies. More than 1 million front-month crude contracts changed hands on Wednesday, far exceeding the daily average of 560,000 contracts.

Iran plans to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Europe, Mehr News Agency quoted Iranian Minister of Oil Bijan Zanganeh as saying. Zanaganeh described Iran’s plan for gas exports to Europe saying “the main objective is to transfer the Iranian product in the form of LNG. Zanaganeh assured that producers will not be charged by taxes for the profit they make in exports though for domestic activity, tax payment is required which discourages them from working with Iranian complexes.

Iran, OPEC's No. 3 producer, is expected to raise its oil exports in March to around 1.65 million barrels per day from 1.5 million bpd a month earlier on the back of higher crude shipments to Europe, two industry sources told Reuters on Thursday. State-run National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) is expected to ship around 250,000-300,000 bpd to Europe this month after it finalised term deals with France's Total and Spanish refiner Cepsa, effective from March 1, said the sources, who are familiar with Iran's exports. The French oil major has a contract to buy about 200,000 bpd, while Cepsa's deal was for about 35,000 bpd, one source said. Total is expected to lift at least 5 million barrels in March, the source added.

South Korea plans to boost imports of Iranian oil, especially condensate, this year to meet growing demand after sanctions on the Islamic nation were lifted in January. The world's fifth largest importer of crude is also a big buyer of condensate, a super light oil that can be processed into fuels and petrochemicals. Iran's return would help ease tight condensate supply in a market dominated by fellow OPEC producer Qatar. "We will increase oil and natural gas (liquids) imports from Iran, especially Iranian condensate," South Korea's trade and energy ministry said on Tuesday. Iran is exporting 100,000 barrels of oil a day to South Korea, one of its main crude customers, and hopes to double that figure by the end of 2016, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Monday.

Danish companies are eyeing a series of energy and shipping projects in Iran following a visit this week by the country's foreign minister, local news agencies and officials said on Tuesday. The Danish foreign ministry said its minister, Kristian Jensen, travelled to Tehran with a delegation representing 58 companies on Monday and that exports could increase by 500 million Danish crowns ($72 million) once sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme are lifted. News agency Shana cited Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying Danish companies were interested in developing oil fields in the Caspian Sea including the South Pars gas field, which also produces condensates. Global conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk is in the oil industry through its Maersk Oil unit.

An Iranian supertanker with two million barrels of oil is heading to Asia after sitting in Iranian waters for months, the first vessel storing crude offshore to sail after a nuclear deal this week, data showed on Thursday. Iran and six major world powers reached a landmark nuclear deal on Tuesday, clearing the way for an easing of international sanctions on Tehran and higher oil exports. While oil analysts do not expect Iran to make a major return to the market until next year, it has been parking millions of barrels of oil on tankers for months. The fully laden Starla, operated by Iran's top tanker group NITC, had been used for floating storage since Dec. 12, 2014, a tanker tracking source said. "This is the first tanker to come off floating storage," the source said.

World oil prices resumed a months-long rout on Tuesday to close at their lowest in more than two years, pressured by reduced economic and demand growth forecasts. U.S. crude oil prices fell faster than European Brent, reversing a weeks-long compression in the Brent/WTI spread amid signs that U.S. refiners are starting to buy cut-priced West African or Mediterranean crudes, re-opening a once common arbitrage. The International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts for the third time this year, warning of weaker growth in core euro zone countries, Japan and Brazil. And German industrial output fell in August at its steepest rate since January 2009. "The IMF forecast is weighing on (demand) sentiment," said Phil Flynn, an analyst for the Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Russia will help Iran to arrange shipments of its oil to markets, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. "Based on Iran's proposal, we will participate in arranging shipments of crude oil, including to the Russian market," he said in a statement after signing a five-year memorandum of understanding with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zanganeh in Moscow. Neither Novak nor the memorandum gave any details on timing or possible volumes. Novak said the deal between the two sanction-hit countries would not violate international obligations. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Erica Billingham)

PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., Canada's No. 2 oil company, could soon be on track to develop an East Coast offshore gas project to rival the huge Sable Island project, its chief executive said. PanCanadian, the oil and gas arm of conglomerate Canadian Pacific Ltd., plans to drill two appraisal wells this year near its recent Deep Panuke gas discoveries, made at the site of the exhausted Copan oil project off Nova Scotia. The wells will give the company the geological data it needs to decide whether to pursue more drilling or full development, PanCanadian CEO David Tuer said. Two recent wells drilled into the gas formation beneath the old oil reservoir tested at more than 50 million cubic feet a day each.

Iran announced its biggest oil find in 30 years last week, a 26-billion barrel field discovered just as the country drives to revive exploration activities and foreign firms compete for big deals. Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said the oilfield in the prolific southwest Khuzestan province has the potential to produce up to 400,000 bpd. He said that development on the field, which is close to the Iraqi border, will start by the end of March 2001 and could earn revenues of some $100 billion given current estimates of recoverable reserves. The massive discovery by the National Iranian Oil Company comes under renewed Iranian efforts to rejuvenate exploration activities in a country with the world's second largest natural gas reserves and fifth biggest oil reserves.

Crude oil prices bolted higher early last week as traders returned from a long holiday weekend to indications that exporting countries may extend the supply cuts which have helped double petroleum prices this year. Crude oil for delivery in February closed 46 cents higher at $26.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but still failed to lift shares of companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. in stock market trading. Indeed, the Standard & Poor's index of international oil companies dropped 30.77 points, or more than three percent, to 950.48, while the broader S&P 500 lost 1.24 points, or 0.09 percent, to 1,457.10. In a quiet U.S.