EMEA News
Iran 2016/17 Budget Set With Oil at $42 to $50/bbl
Iran, whose 2016 oil production activities are widely expected to be one of key factors impacting next year's oil prices, has set its draft budget for the coming year based on oil priced between $42 and $50 per barrel, the country's Shana news agency reports.
Iran's next fiscal year starts on March 21, 2016.
"In consultation with the Ministry of Petroleum, three price options of 42, 45, and 50 dollars were discussed which are expected to earn 68 trillion tomans (about $22.5 billion)," government spokesman Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht was quoted as saying.
However the Islamic Republic is also reported to be working with its fellow members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to restore prices to a "fair" level.
As Ship & Bunker reported earlier this month, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says the majority of OPEC believes that level to be $70 to $80 per barrel.
Separate reports suggest Iran has called on fellow OPEC members to cut production in order to achieve a price lift, and in addition also wants them to "open space" for an additional 1 million barrels a day that the Islamic Republic intends to produce within six months of sanctions against the country being removed.
In July, when the P5+1 global powers reached a deal with Iran to pave the way for sanctions removal, analysts predicted the move could push prices down to $30 per barrel, an estimate which has since been revised lower by Goldman Sachs to $20 in light of the oil market being "even more oversupplied than we had expected."
