Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.1/ Trend F.Karimov/
Iran's crude oil exports have declined over the past two Iranian calendar months of Shahrivar and Mehr (August 23-October 22), ISNA quoted member of the Iranian parliament Masoud Mirkazemi as saying.
"We are concerned about the declining going on in the second half of the current year," he said. "The current year's budget bill has envisaged selling 1.3 million barrels of crude oil per day, but I do not think the goal will be materialized," he said.
In the sixth calendar month of Shahrivar, crude oil exports fell 100,000-150,000 barrels per day, he noted, adding that the oil price in the budget bill has been set to $95 per barrel, he further said.
Reuters reported that Iran's top 4 crude buyers cut their purchases by 11.5 percent in the first nine months of 2013, with oil shipments set to remain under pressure from sanctions despite tentative signs of better relations between Tehran and Washington.
Western sanctions have forced China, India, Japan and South Korea to reduce their reliance on Iranian oil, more than halving the OPEC nation's exports since early 2012 and costing it billions of dollars a month in lost revenue.
The four major Asian buyers between January and September imported 953,567 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude, down 11.5 percent from the same nine months in 2012, according to government statistics and oil tanker arrival schedules.
In the month of September, they imported 1,161,304 bpd of Iranian oil, a 30.2 percent jump from a year ago.
The European Union and the United States believe Iran is developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its programme is for power generation.
Since the beginning of 2012, U.S. and European sanctions have cut Iran's oil exports in half to about 1 million bpd.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on October 27 that the country's crude oil incomes would reach $54.5 billion annually if the US-led sanctions over Iran's oil export are eliminated.
While the oil price stands at about $107 per barrel, the targeted oil export income figure equals to the value of selling 1.4 mbpd.
Later in September, member of Iranian Parliament Planning and Budget Commission Hossein Ali Haji Deligani said that Iran's oil and condensate revenues were around $23 billions during the first six months of the current solar year (started on March 21). He went on to note that, the country's crude oil and condensates exports currently stand at 1.209 mbpd, citing on a report submitted by Zanganeh to the Commission.
According to Iran's Customs Administration's statistics, the country has exported about $3.385 billion worth of condensates during the first six months of the current solar year (approximately some 200,000 bpd).
On the other hand, Iran's crude oil exports during the first half of solar year were below $20 billion. If it continues at the same rate, the country's total annual oil exports` value will roughly reach $40 billion at the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2014), $14 billion less than Zanganeh's forecast.
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