Iran to tighten competition by producing ‘custom’ crude oil

Iran is pursuing a new policy in the oil market by entering a fresh round of competition with countries that have less heavy crude oil production such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Russia, Mehr News Agency reports.

Due to an increase in production of heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) in Iran’s oil industry, the country is planning to start production of custom crude oil, tailored to meet its clients’ requirements.

As such, Iran’s newly-produced heavy and extra heavy crude oil with an API gravity less than 20° can be used as a new instrument to infiltrate markets such as China, India, Japan and Europe that have a refining system for this kind of crude oil.

Currently, the volume of Iran’s crude oil exports stands at approximately 2-2.1 million barrels per day; the implementation of the new project in addition to the traditional clients will provide a perfect opportunity for attracting new clients for Iran’s oil market and remarkably increase the volume of exports.

Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of Iran Oil Terminals Company (IOTC), said with the participation of a European company, the project of custom oil production in Iran’s oil terminals is expected to become operational in two years’ time.

“In this project, by combining a variety of oil compositions, the crude oil will be produced and delivered as requested by the client,” he said.

Iran has dozens of offshore oil wells that produce different types of light, heavy, sour and sweet crude oil, and as such is a tenacious competitor in the global oil market.