Executive Director of Petropars Projects, Seyyed Hadi Mirbagheri, said that the flare of the offshore platform of South Pars Phase 12 was lit in early August following the transmission of sweetened natural gas from onshore to offshore facilities.

 

He added that Petropars technicians together with experts from the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company managed to light the flare of the offshore platform of South Pars Phase 12 after they launched the first 32-inch pipeline of the phase, and transmit sweetened gas to the site.

 

Mirbagheri went on to say that the offshore platform of Phase 12 will yield 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in September, and will transfer the extracted gas to onshore facilities.

 

He stated that the offshore platform of South Pars Phase 12 will reach its maximum capacity in November, when it will yield 1,000 million cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas per day which will be transmitted to onshore gas treatment facilities.

 

On July 31, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said all phases of the giant South Pars gas field will come on stream by 2015, when all remaining projects will be commissioned.

 

He added that 17 phases of the field are currently being developed, and Iran will extract as much natural gas as neighboring Qatar from the joint reservoir once the development of these phases is complete.

 

The oil minister stated that 80 percent of phases 17 and 18 of the South Pars gas field has been developed and they will be operational by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2014).

 

The South Pars gas field, divided into 28 phases, is located in the Persian Gulf on the common border between Iran and Qatar. It is estimated that the field contains 14 trillion cubic meters of gas and 18 billion barrels of condensate.
 

(Source: Press TV)

 

Cement output amounted to 25.655 million tons, he said, adding that tile and ceramic output hit 24.83 million square meters in the 4-month period.

 

The cement output showed 91 percent rise compared to the same period in the previous year, he said.

 

By reaching the annual output capacity of 115 million tons, Iran will become world's third largest cement producer in the coming years, ISNA reported.

 

Iran's cement output will reach 75 million tons by the end of current Iranian calendar year.

 

Iran plans to increase its cement output up to 85 million tons by the end of the next Iranian Calendar year.

 

Iran plans to export 12 million tons of cement in the current calendar year.

 

Iran’s tiles and ceramics output stood at 291.623 million square meters in the previous Iranian calendar year which ended March 20.

 

The amount showed 1.1 per cent increase compared to its preceding year, IRNA reported.

 

According to the head of the Iranian tile producers and sellers union, Mostafa Goudarzi, Iran exports 80 percent of its domestically-made tiles and ceramics to Iraq.

 

He referred to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan as other destinations for Iranian-made products.

 

He added that some $270 million worth of tiles were exported two years ago.

 

More than 200 companies will attend the exhibition.

 

In addition to Iranian companies, a number of companies from South Korea, China, Russia, Turkey, Finland, Brazil, Spain, and the Netherlands will take part in the exhibition.

 

“My first action will be to bring the country’s oil production capacity back to 2005” levels, Zanganeh was quoted as telling Shana, the Oil Ministry’s news website. At that time Iran wasn’t subject to United Nations, U.S. and European Union sanctions against its civilian nuclear program. The measures, imposed during ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s time in office, have restricted international companies’ ties with Iran and the country’s crude exports.

 

Rohani, who was inaugurated this month to succeed Ahmadinejad, has pledged to work toward easing sanctions. Parliament is set to review the qualifications of his proposed ministers this week.

 

Iran is producing 2.56 million barrels a day in July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The country produced about 4 million barrels a day in 2005, according to Bloomberg.

 

“I don’t mean output should be immediately returned to its past level because it may not be possible due to sanctions,” Zanganeh said. “But stable production capacity should be created so that we will be able under any circumstances to benefit from oil for our domestic needs.”

 

Zanganeh served as oil minister from 1997-2005 and prior to that was energy minister for nine years, Shana said.

(Source: Bloomberg)

 

Iran exported $12.536 billion of non-oil commodities during the four-month period, marking an 11.5-percent rise in weight and a five-percent decline in value compared to the corresponding period last year, IRNA reported.

 

The export of industrial, mining and agricultural products, rugs and handicrafts rose by 3.5 percent in comparison with the same period a year earlier.

 

Iran also imported $12.909 billion worth of goods weighing 9.120 million tons in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year.

 

The figures show a 27.5-percent decline in weight and a 26.5-percent fall in value in the import of non-oil commodities.

 

Iran exported 3.29 million tons of gas condensate valued at $2.918 billion from the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (PSEEZ) in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year, marking a 48-percent rise in weight compared to the corresponding period last year.

 

Director General of the PSEEZ Customs Department Ahmad Pourheidar said on July 31 that condensate export from the zone also rose by 80 percent in value during the four-month period.

 

He said gas condensate accounted for 55 percent of the weight and 61 percent of value of the entire commodities exported from the PSEEZ, adding that the main export destinations for the Iranian condensate were China, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Romania, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.
 

(Source: Press TV)

On July 1, the U.S. implemented a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran’s shipping and automobile industries, gold sales and financial institutions doing business in the rial, the IEA said. 
 

The U.S. and its allies are restricting Iran’s oil exports, the country’s largest revenue source, and targeting its financial industry. 

In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said Iranian crude oil production in July fell back to 2.6 million barrels per day (mbd) -- 50,000 million barrels less per day from June.
 

In contrast, however, the IEA said that preliminary data show that Iranian crude oil exports climbed to 1.16 mbd from just 960,000 barrels per day in June, mainly owing to a rebound in Chinese imports which last month rose to 660,000 barrels of oil per day from 385,000 the month before.
 

"Just five countries reported importing crude from Iran in July -- China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates," the IEA said, noting the number of countries totaled as many as 16 in January 2012.
 

Despite this, the IEA said "Iran continues to expand its shipping fleet in a bid to sustain crude sales in the wake of increasingly stringent international sanctions".

Since May, it has added four more supertankers, known as VLCCs, to its fleet, which now totals 37 VLCCs and 14 smaller crude tankers.
 

Most of the additions come from China as part of a 2009 deal to buy 12 VLCCs for $1.2 billion (898 million euros).
 

"The expanding shipping fleet should provide the state oil company more flexibility in marketing its crude and for use in floating storage," the IEA said.

“Construction materials, petrochemical products, agricultural equipment, pharmaceutical products, as well as engineering tools will be on display during the four-day exhibition,” Leon Aharunyan told the Fars News Agency on Tuesday.
 

In July, Iran and Armenia signed an agreement to expand bilateral trade ties.

Tehran Chamber of Commerce Chairman Yahya Al-e Es’haq and Yerevan Chamber of Commerce Chairman Andranik Aleksanyan signed the agreement.

 

In the meeting, Armenian Deputy Economy Minister Ara Petrosyan said that Iranian-Armenian trade turnover has valued at nearly 320 million dollars over the recent two years, but we need to increase this figure given the potential we have. 

 

Armenian-Iranian trade turnover valued at $317.7 million in 2012, according to the National Statistical Service of Armenia. Armenian export hit $97.8 million. 

 

Armenia mainly exports to Iran ore fuel, oil products, bitumen, wax, plastics and plastic products, and aluminum products.   

 

Iran mainly exports to Armenia ore fuel, oil and oil products, bitumen, wax, plastics and plastic products, fertilizers, salt, limestone and cement.

 

According to Indian Tea Association sources, the delegation, accompanied by leading importers and government officials, will go to the auction centre and attend the tasting session.

 

A wide range of teas from Assam, Cachar, Dooars and Darjeeling will be displayed for the tasting session.

 

The visit is followed by Indian tea delegation’s visit to Iran on March 13 this year, the sources said.

 

As part of the visit, an interactive session has also been organized with all the stakeholders such as exporters, Tea Board, banks, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India, shipping lines, and the Federation of Indian Export Organization.

 

On Wednesday, the delegation will visit the tea gardens in Assam to have a hands-on experience on plantation, culture, tasting, etc.

 

According to the sources, the Indian tea delegation had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in March for 30 million kg of tea exports in two years and this has made the Indian tea producers confident.

 

(Source: The Hindu) 

 

Mohammad Khodakarami told ISNA that the airline owns three planes and will launch flights by the next two weeks.

 

Applicants, who want to establish airlines, should be able to buy at least three planes with less than 10 years of age, he added.

 

In May, Iranian Civil Aviation Organization head Hamidreza Pahlavani announced that two new Iranian airlines will start operation in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21.

 

A number of planes will be added to the national fleet in the current year, he said, adding that 19 planes were added to the fleet last year, the Mehr News Agency quoted Pahlavani as saying.

 

In March, Pahlavani said that Iran has added two Airbus 340 planes, three Fokker 100 planes, and two other planes of different model to its national air fleet.

 

He added that currently 18 airlines are in operation in Iran.

 

In April 2012, the Fars News Agency reported that Iran plans to increase the number of aircraft and replace 25 outdated planes with new ones.

 

The Civil Aviation Organization will remove 25 planes with over 30 years of service from the fleet, most of which are Boeing 707 and Boeing 727 models, according to the report.

 

The inflation rate for the 12-month period ended the third Iranian calendar month of Khordad was 32.6 percent, the Mehr News Agency reported.

 

Central Bank of Iran Governor Mahmoud Bahmani has said that the country would curb inflation through three financial policies.

 

“By selling bonds and gold coins as well as reducing liquidity, we hope to curb inflation,” Bahmani stated.

 

Iran’s average monthly inflation rate was 25.4 percent during the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20.

 

In April, the International Monetary Fund reported that Iran's economy contracted by 1.9 percent in 2012 and is expected to shrink by 1.3 percent this year.

 

However, the economy of the Islamic Republic is forecast to grow next year by 1.1 percent, the IMF said in its annual World Economic Outlook.