High Octane Gasoline Sold via Iran Energy Exchange

EghtesadOnline: High octane gasoline weighing 3,000 tons was sold in the international ring of Iran Energy Exchange on Tuesday.

News ID: ۷۴۸۲۸۴

28 August 2019

It was offered by the National Iranian Oil Product Distribution Company at a base price of $640/ton, according to the IRENEX online bulletin board.

The offer was welcomed by buyers as they placed orders for 4,000 tons of octane 95 gasoline when 3,000 tons was on offer.

In its initial notice, NIORDC offered 2,000 tons of gasoline. After the initial offers were well received, the company offered an additional 1,000 tons of the fuel, Financial Tribune reported.

The fuel was sold in two cargos of 1,000 tons and 2 cargos of 500 tons.

While high octane gasoline was sold amid buyer enthusiasm, the lower octane gasoline was not approached with the same vigor.

Buyers took only 500 tons of the octane 91 gasoline, out of a total offer ten times that amount. The base price was set at $570 for this cargo.

NIORDC also found no buyers for the 2,000 tons of octane 87 gasoline.

The company managed to sell 500 tons of gas oil (diesel fuel) in Tuesday’s trade, out of the 1,000 tons on offer. The cargo was on offer at a base price of $567 per ton.

Buyers are required to pay 10% of the approximate value of the cargo in advance.

Payments are settled based on the foreign exchange parity rate quoted in the SANA system. The system operates under supervision of the Central Bank of Iran and records average exchange rates from across exchange bureaux).

2 Payment Methods

As per rules governing payment in the energy bourse, prospective buyers can use two modes of payment,  namely via the Central Securities Depository of Iran and direct payment to the seller outside the capital market clearing house.

Payment can be made either in rials or in foreign currency subject to the seller’s choice.

The gasoline sale initiative started for the first time in the history of Iran’s oil industry last month when NIORDC sold 3,000 tons of octane 91 gasoline to Afghans via the energy market.

Fuel has also been sold to other neighbors in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Republic of Armenia.

Oil-rich Iraq is a gasoline importer, because local refiners cannot meet growing demand after decades of wars, internal strife, the plague of terrorism and toxic US interference in its internal affairs.

Energy officials say Iran is self-reliant in gasoline and in a position to start export, especially to neighbors.

Iran is producing 15 million liters of gasoline a day more than its domestic need. Average daily domestic gasoline consumption is in the area of 92 million liters.

Crude Oil Unattractive

The National Iranian Oil Company could not find buyers for the 2 million barrels of heavy crude oil offered on IRENEX Tuesday.

This is not the first time an offer was not taken by prospective buyers. The overall initiative so far has not produced the desired results. In the previous rounds the NIOC hardly managed to sell 1.1 million barrels of crude via IRENEX.

Offering crude oil and associated the products on the capital market is part of government initiative to involve the private sector and international companies in the oil industry, which has long been under government control.