Oil for export is set to be offered in the energy bourse in the near future, managing director of the energy bourse Seyyed Ali Hosseini said, Moj news agency reported.
"Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has been working hard over the past few weeks to offer oil for export markets in the energy bourse," he said, adding that members of parliament have called for increased participation of private international firms in the Iranian market.
Regarding private sector role in the oil market without operating in the bourse, he said some firsm entered the market during the previous government and performed poorly. "Such methods may be effective in the short term, but would harm the economy in the long run."
He said oil transactions in the bourse would be a welcome move, and "this is our responsibility" to offer services to different sectors such as oil and electricity.
The energy bourse policies are aimed at increasing trade competition, and its operating system was approved by the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran (SEO).
Hosseini stated that pricing is critical in the energy sector, and many challenges could be prevented if an impartial and globally recognized authority for pricing existed in the country. "The energy bourse can effectively address energy pricing issues."
Bourse Targets
One reason for offering petroleum products at the bourse is to alleviate government concerns about the sanctions or corruption is through establishment of an energy bourse. This will also benefit honest investors, enabling them to participate in profitable oil businesses.
Promoting transparency, direct access to financial resources and legal approval of the government are among major features of the energy bourse, according to Hosseini.
To help increase transparency, a vendors list of firms certified by the oil ministry to bid for tenders was prepared on a trial basis in October. The list is expected to make debut by March 2015. The above moves are aimed at overcoming obstacles created by the West over Iran's disputed nuclear program. Tehran was compelled to seek help from private brokers to conduct transactions on behalf of the government, as a means of circumventing the sanctions. A group of companies and financial institutions were established by the private sector to help the government finance its sales of oil, transferring billions of dollars to and from the country.
The United States cut off Iranian banks from the US financial system in 2006 over the disputed nuclear program. This was followed by the world's biggest electronic payment system also cutting off designated Iranian financial firms, and banks being blacklisted by the European Union, in 2012. Expelling the designated Iranian banks from Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which handles daily payments estimated at more than $6 trillion, has shut down a major avenue through which Tehran could conduct business with the rest of the world.
The energy bourse, As Iran's fourth stock market, was established in 2011 for trading electricity and petroleum products.
