TEHRAN – Iran’s average heavy crude oil price has increased $29.34 in 2021 to register a 42.1-percent rise compared to the previous year, according to OPEC’s last monthly report for the year published on Monday.

Following the ease of pandemic impacts in various countries and the increase in oil demand in the markets during 2021, the average Iranian heavy crude oil price increased to $69.32 per barrel in 2021, compared to $39.98 in 2020, the report said.

According to the data provided, the country’s heavy crude price was $80.5 in November, down $2.07 from $82.14 in October.

The report put Iranian crude output for November at 2.474 million barrels per day (bpd) indicating a 9,000-bpd decrease compared to the figure for the previous month.

Based on OPEC data, the country’s average crude output in the third quarter of 2021 stood at 2.482 million bpd indicating a nearly 42,000-bpd rise compared to the average figure for the year’s second quarter.

Iranian heavy crude oil price had followed an upward trend since the beginning of the current year up to May, then following the increase in the OPEC members’ production oil prices fell during June-August. Towards the end of the year, the prices once again got back on the upward track.

In addition to the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the global oil industry which resulted in the drastic fall in oil prices in 2020, the Iranian oil industry was also under pressure from the U.S. efforts to isolate the country by re-imposing sanctions.

The country, however, ramped up its oil production following the developments in the White House and also the recovery of the global markets from the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier in February, Fitch Solutions Incorporation, a subsidiary of Fitch Ratings, which is one of the U.S.’s three biggest credit rating agencies, forecasted a 6.8-percent growth for Iranian oil exports in 2021 if the U.S comes back to the 2015 nuclear deal.

In one of its latest reports dubbed “Iran Oil and Gas Report”, Fitch also saw the Islamic Republic’s crude oil exports double in 2022 compared to 2020.

“The prospects for the Iranian oil sector have brightened significantly following Joe Biden's victory in the U.S. presidential election on November 3. President Biden has indicated that he will seek to re-enter the U.S. into the Iranian nuclear deal, paving the way for a roll-back of secondary sanctions and recovery of around 2.0 million bpd in oil production,” the report said.

EF/MA