Iran Oil Co Faces Deficit

The research centre of Iran's parliament released a report January 13 saying that National Iranian Oil Company’s foreign and internal debts reached $48.66bn last year.

The paper says that for the next fiscal year, which starts March 21, NIOC should pay off $15.7bn of debt, but the company’s total projected "reliable" revenues and budget are less than a half that sum. 

Parliament’s research centre says that NIOC can only rely on $7.5bn from domestic and export sales of hydrocarbons. Foreign investments are hit by US sanctions, while the company’s heavy debts and delays in payments make it an unattractive borrower at home.“Alongside paying off debts, NIOC should also invest $8.76bn in oil and gas projects, but there are not even reliable sources for paying off debts,” it said.

The report says NIOC is expecting to have $24.49bn to spend next year, made up of $4.48bn in oil and gas export revenues, $4.4 foreign loans and investments and $5.94bn loans from domestic banks for the next fiscal year. The rest is expected to be allocated from the national development fund (NDF) and other sources, based on budget bill.

Iran eyes $32bn crude oil, gas condensate and gas export revenues for next fiscal year, of which 14.5% (about $4.48bn) would be allocated to NIOC, 20% to NDF and the rest to the other sectors.

According to the budget, Iran eyes 1.54mn barrels/d of crude oil exports at $54.1/b; and 135,000 b/d of gas condensate sales to domestic petrochemical plants at $51.4/b. The budget also predicts $3.45bn of natural gas exports to Turkey and Iraq, two thirds of which would come from Turkey.

The country’s current oil exports are under 1mn b/d and US recently announced that it has no plan to extend waivers for Iranian oil clients after May 2019.