Iran petrodollars down 30% as crude prices fall: Rouhani
PRESSTV (Iran) Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:28AM GMT

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the country’s oil revenues have plunged
by 30 percent due to a recent fall in crude prices in the global market.

Addressing a Majlis session on Wednesday, Rouhani said that the oil-rich
country should be prepared to deal with “the new conditions.”

President Rouhani said that economic issues have never been the only
determinants of oil prices, as “politics and global plots” have often had a
significant role as well.

Oil is the main source of income for Iran.

Brent crude, a benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, has fallen
more than 20 percent since June, when its price had reached about USD 115 a
barrel.

Iran has slashed its crude price in an attempt to attract Asian customers
following a recent slump in the oil prices due to market oversupply and
concomitant falling demand.

The director for international affairs of National Iranian Oil Company
(NIOC) said recently that OPEC is unlikely to reduce its production ceiling
when it meets in November.

Mohsen Qamsari also said that an emergency meeting of OPEC is unnecessary
now. “Holding a meeting now is ineffective,” he said.

In May, NIOC said oil production capacity of the Islamic Republic would
reach four million barrels per day by the end of the current Persian
calendar year in March 2015.

Iran will be capable of exploiting its oil reservoir for the next six
decades as the country has estimated crude reserves of 157 billion barrels,
the NIOC says.

DB/HJL/KA