According to Ehsan Khandouzi, the Iranian regime’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Iran had $20 billion in oil, petroleum products, and gas exports in the first eight months of this year (from March 21 to October 23), and the country’s trade balance was net positive $10 billion.
This is the first time in recent years that a regime’s official provides information about the income from oil exports.
On Friday, November 24, Khandouzi, while explaining the foreign trade situation of Iran, said that the country’s non-oil exports were about $32 billion, and imports were $42 billion in the first eight months of the current year. However, considering the total of oil and non-oil exports, the country’s trade balance was positive $10 billion.
Therefore, the net income of Iran’s exports from oil, including crude oil, petroleum products, and gas, during the mentioned period was only $20 billion.
According to the statistics of the Kpler company, which is consistent with the statistics of the energy information company Vortexa, Iran had an average daily export of 1.14 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensates in the first eight months of this year. OPEC statistics show that the price of Iran’s exported oil during this period was about $78.
Thus, Iran should have had $21.5 billion in oil revenues from crude oil and gas condensates alone in the first eight months of this year.
On the other hand, Iran has a daily export of 230,000 barrels of mazut and about 50 million cubic meters of gas, which had a value of about $7.5 billion in the initial eight months of this year.
In total, the value of Iran’s oil exports, including crude oil, gas condensates, petroleum products, and gas, should have been $29 billion during the mentioned period, but according to the statement of the country’s Minister of Economy, it was $20 billion.
This can indicate that about one-third of the country’s oil revenues are lost in the process of circumventing sanctions.
The report of the Majlis (Parliament) Research Center of the regime about the realization of the oil budget for the four months of this year also shows that one-third of Iran’s oil revenues are lost in the process of circumventing sanctions.
The latest report of the Parliamentary Research Center, published on October 23, shows that only 48% of the country’s oil budget (including exports and domestic sales) has been realized in the first four months of this year. This report does not mention the realization of oil export revenues, but it states that domestic sales revenues have been 8% higher than budget expectations.
Thus, the foreign sales revenue of Iran’s crude oil has been realized at best below 45%, while considering the volume of exports and the price of Iran’s oil in the first four months of the year 2023 (starting from March 21), at least 78% of the country’s oil export budget should have been realized.
Earlier, Reuters and Bloomberg news agencies had reported a 12% to 15% discount by Iran to Chinese refineries for purchasing Iranian oil, but the regime also incurs the cost of circumventing sanctions through the transfer of oil shipments in the middle of oceans to other tankers to conceal the origin of the oil, as well as using regional middlemen and Malaysia to change the brand and ownership of oil.
