The Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) said it was holding negotiations with the oil ministry to remove the obstacles faced by the listed petrochemical companies and refineries, reported MNA.
Ali Salehabadi, the SEO chief, said Friday the talks were aimed at improving the quality of oil and gasoline products from domestic refineries.
The quality of domestic gasoline is the main issue discussed during the months-long absence of refineries in the stock market. Despite numerous meetings held by the refineries’ major shareholders, the SEO, and the officials at the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), the refineries’ ticker symbols are still closed at Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and also at the Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME).
Another factor making the SEO close such ticker symbols is the lack of transparency in pricing refineries’ feedstock. Based on the law, the crude oil supplied to the refineries should be priced based on the price of exported crude oil in the same month.
The refineries say the NIORDC forces them to get low-quality crude oil at international prices. This, the refineries believe, causes technical problems in their facilities while the oil ministry does not take these losses into consideration.
None of the refineries have so far been able to present their six-month financial reports since the current Iranian calendar year started on March 21. This has led to widespread discontent among their shareholders. The refineries are unable to officially announce their gains and losses unless the crisis is resolved.
The disagreement comes as oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said last month that the Rouhani administration had plans to finance a considerable number of its oil projects through oil and petroleum investment funds, led by the SEO, reported FNA.
The funds function to increase the long-term value of the shares of the companies to the benefit of their shareholders by attracting domestic and global investment in the fields of oil, natural gas, and petrochemicals.
