The National Iranian Oil Company has substantially reduced its growing gas condensate stockpiles in recent months not only through exports but also due to higher local consumption, managing director of the state-run firm said.
"Last November, we were concerned about stockpiling gas condensate. A huge volume of gas condensate was on our ships. We took effective measures and boosted sales of condensates,” Mohsen Khojastehmehr was also quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.
Iran has sold several cargoes of condensate to its customers, including fellow OPEC member Venezuela, he added.
The country has also increased its energy sales despite US sanctions.
“We also have used a big chunk of the on-water-floating gas condensates domestically to produce gasoline. Our sales figures, including that of crude, condensates, LPG, oil byproducts and petrochemicals, over the past 10 months have reached acceptable levels and a few times higher than 2019," he said without providing any statistics.
Iran has been subject to US sanctions on its energy sector since 2018, when the US unilaterally withdrew from a nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed sanctions on the country's economy.
According to the official, NIOC produces 650,000 barrels of gas condensates per day, a major part (500,000 barrels) of which is piped to the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in Hormozgan Province to be converted into gasoline.
Khojastehmehr said gas condensate is also sold to petrochemical plants in Asalouyeh and Mahshahr in the south as feedstock to produce value-added products, in addition to offering it internationally through the Iran Energy Exchange.
Natural gas condensate is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in raw natural gas produced from gas fields.
Oil Revenues
Iran has been able to receive oil revenues and there are no worries in this regard, the NIOC chief said.
Last October, a state report showed that the country's oil income in the six-month period ending Sept. 22 was double the amount recorded in the preceding Iranian year that ended on March 20, 2021.
NIOC is set to boost its crude oil capacity to 4 million bpd by March 2022, returning to levels not seen since before the US reimposed sanctions on crude sales in 2018.
"Our plan is to raise the oil production capacity to what it was before the sanctions by the end of the current Iranian year [March 20]. We welcome foreign investments, regardless of the sanctions and without any conditions," he said, adding that Iran has already started talks to develop oil and gas fields in cooperation with foreign companies.
For example, Iran is discussing further ventures with Chinese companies that had already been involved in the development of Iran's southwest and oilfields shared with Iraq.
Khojastehmehr said these include Chinese companies Sinopec and CNPC, adding that China is Iran's largest oil customer and Iran is seeking new buyers.
"We seek to identify new markets that are stable and secure to continue our oil sales. We should be able to attract strategic customers. We are ready to sign even long-term contracts for sales of crude oil, gas condensates, gas and oil products," he said.
South America is one of NIOC's markets, he added.
