Iran's gas condensate exports have tripled under new govt

Iran has increased its natural gas condensates exports under the new government after stockpiles surged to nearly 90 million barrels, oil minister Javad Owji said on March 16, the ministry's news service Shana reported.

Exports have climbed by two and a half to three times since the new government took office, from a base of about 20,000 barrels to 60,000 barrels, Owji said. President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021. Gas production was increased to meet winter demand for heating under the previous administration, but with it brought more output of gas condensates, which were put into storage, he said. Iran had 85 million to 87 million barrels of gas condensates in storage offshore and onshore before the new government took over, he said. Exports grew despite US sanctions on Iran's energy exports.

"The permission was issued... to buy 12 VLCCs to deal with the challenge of gas condensates storage," he said. "But we didn't use the permits and instead released the storage vessels."

Gas condensates are being used in petrochemical plants as feedstock to produce gasoil-like fuel to burn in power plants, he said. That used up more than 20 million barrels from the inventories, he said.

Separately, the National Iranian Oil Products Refining and Distribution Co. said on March 15 that the country has been exporting 2 million b/d of gasoline since March 21, 2021, the beginning of the current Iranian year, according to Shana.