TEHRAN- National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will offer one million barrels of light crude oil at Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) for the fourth time on February 4, Shana reported on Monday.

The set price for this round of oil sale is $56.24 per barrel, and the least amount of sale will be 35,000 barrels like the previous round of offering.

NIOC offered one million barrels of light crude oil at IRENEX for the third time on January 21. The set price for that round of oil sale was $52.42 per barrel.

The third round witnessed some advantages compared to the first and second rounds to facilitate purchase process for the applicants.

One of the changes in the third round was that the purchasers could pay both in Iranian rial and in foreign currencies, the rate of which was estimated at the Central Bank of Iran (CBI)’s online Sana system (accessible at sanarate.ir, a website that records daily forex trade from across the domestic exchange bureaus).

On November 11, NIOC offered 700,000 barrels of light crude oil at the price of $76.29 per barrel at IRENEX for the second time.

The first round of offering occurred on October 28, just few days before new U.S. sanctions on Iran’s petroleum sector took effect (November 4). In the first round, NIOC could sell some 280,000 barrels of crude oil at $74.85 per barrel. With the daily supply amount of one million barrels per day, the market wrapped up by selling eight 35,000-barrel-cargos of oil on the day.

Establishment of IRENEX, which is considered as a turning point in Iran's strategic oil industry and capital market and also a platform for producers and consumers to be in touch and pay lower trade costs in a transparent business environment, can be translated into creation of a new energy stock market that results in economic development.  

MA/MA