Wizdom
17-02-08, 19:38
First Oil Bourse Launched in Iran
TEHRAN, Iran, Feb 17--Iran established its first oil products bourse Sunday in a free trade zone on the Persian Gulf Island of Kish, oil ministry says.
A statement posted on the ministry's website said 100 tons of polyethylene consignment was traded at the market's opening on the island, which houses the offices of about 100 Iranian and foreign oil companies.
Oil and petrochemical products will be traded in Iranian Rials, as well as all other hard currencies, the statement quoted Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying.
About 20 brokers are already active in the market, it said.
"The bourse provides an economic opportunity for Iranians, other countries and foreign customers,'' Nozari was quoted as saying.
Iran produces more than 20 million tons of petrochemical products per year.
Iran has already registered for another oil bourse, in which it has said it hopes to trade oil in euros instead of dollars, to reduce any American influence over the Islamic Republic's economy.
A bourse official, Mahdi Karbasian, told the IRNA news agency that such an oil market would begin operating within the next year.
Nozari also called on OPEC to reduce its output at its next meeting in early March, adding that any reduction should be determined by market conditions and global reserves.
"The normal course of events is that we should have a cut in production in March, but we will have to review market conditions and world reserves before deciding by how much production should be cut," he said.
As the fourth largest oil producer in the world, Iran has a measure of influence over international oil markets.
The country ranks second for output among OPEC countries, and controls about 5 percent of the global oil supply.
Tehran also controls the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil supply must pass.
TEHRAN, Iran, Feb 17--Iran established its first oil products bourse Sunday in a free trade zone on the Persian Gulf Island of Kish, oil ministry says.
A statement posted on the ministry's website said 100 tons of polyethylene consignment was traded at the market's opening on the island, which houses the offices of about 100 Iranian and foreign oil companies.
Oil and petrochemical products will be traded in Iranian Rials, as well as all other hard currencies, the statement quoted Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying.
About 20 brokers are already active in the market, it said.
"The bourse provides an economic opportunity for Iranians, other countries and foreign customers,'' Nozari was quoted as saying.
Iran produces more than 20 million tons of petrochemical products per year.
Iran has already registered for another oil bourse, in which it has said it hopes to trade oil in euros instead of dollars, to reduce any American influence over the Islamic Republic's economy.
A bourse official, Mahdi Karbasian, told the IRNA news agency that such an oil market would begin operating within the next year.
Nozari also called on OPEC to reduce its output at its next meeting in early March, adding that any reduction should be determined by market conditions and global reserves.
"The normal course of events is that we should have a cut in production in March, but we will have to review market conditions and world reserves before deciding by how much production should be cut," he said.
As the fourth largest oil producer in the world, Iran has a measure of influence over international oil markets.
The country ranks second for output among OPEC countries, and controls about 5 percent of the global oil supply.
Tehran also controls the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil supply must pass.