TEHRAN - Abbas Kazemi, the managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), announced on Monday that Iran holds 13 percent of the total share of oil products exports from the Middle East.

According to the official, exporting 60 million liters or 400,000 barrels of gas oil and fuel oil on a daily base, the country is now officially an exporter of pure oil products after 11 decades of active oil industry.

“However, the share of liquefied gas exports has not been included in the calculations,” he said.

“Keeping this level of exports requires several factors including access to international sea and land transportation systems, international financial and insurance facilities and most importantly, trust of the international partners,” Kazemi added.

Further in his remarks the official noted that NIORDC had the potential to boost the exports to 500,000 barrels per day but due to some complexities in shipping and financial issues it wasn’t realized.

“The country plans to raise its oil products exports to 600,000 barrels per day in the upcoming year,” he said.

According to Iran’s Custom Administration, the country’s non-oil exports reached $21.706 billion in the first half of this year, registering a 5.99 percent rise compared to the same period last year.

During the said period, gas condensate was reported to be the main export product with a total value of $3.496 billion although the commodity recorded a 12.85 percent fall year-on-year, followed by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

EF/MA