Iran’s crude oil exports to European Union countries in the first four months of the year reached 9.31 million tons, more than six times higher than those in the corresponding period last year.

That is equivalent to a total of 66.5 million barrels, or nearly 560,000 barrels per day, Tasnim News Agency reported, citing Eurostat, the official news portal of the European Commission.

The 28-nation bloc took in 1.37 million tons of oil in January-April 2016. The higher export is largely attributed to the lifting of international restrictions against Iran which allowed the OPEC member to recoup the lost ground in the global crude market.

Italy purchased 2.8 million tons in the four-month period, accounting for nearly 30% of all imports. France and Spain were the other major customers, taking in 2.2 million tons and 1.1 million tons respectively.

Greece, whose largest refiner Hellenic Petroleum was the first western company to resume oil trade with Iran after the lifting of sanctions, shipped in 1.04 million tons of crude from the Persian Gulf producer in the said period.

An official at NIOC, the state-owned oil company, said last month that Iran has signed contracts to export between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels per day of crude to its customers in Europe.

Tehran says it exports close to 2.1 million bpd of crude oil and between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels a day of condensates, a type of ultra light crude. The No. 3 OPEC producer aims to ramp up supplies to 4.7 million bpd by 2021.

Iran used to sell around 800,000 bpd to European buyers before the tightening of international economic curbs in 2011 and 2012. Sanctions curtailed production to around 2.5 million bpd as exports to Europe dropped to zero.

French energy company Total S.A., Italy’s Eni and Saras, Russia’s Lukoil, Spanish refiner Cepsa, Royal Dutch Shell and Hungary’s MOL are among Iran’s oil customers.

/Financial tribune /

The five-man Iranian karate team finished the karate Poland’s World Games with one gold and four silver medals.

Zabihollah Poursheib defeated his Japanese opponent Ryutaro Araga, to whom he had lost the seven consecutive matches in the last few years, and received the gold medal in the -84 kg division, IRNA reported.

Poursheib had already won the gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games at the -84 kg division. He had also won the bronze medal in 2016 World Karate Championships.

Ali-Asqar Asiabari, at -75; Sajad Ganjzadeh, at +84; Amir Mahdi Mahdizadeh, at -60; and Hamideh Abbas-Ali, at women’s +68 receive silver medals in the games. / Iran daily /

Over 2000 works have been submitted to the visual art section of the 6th edition of the International Green Film Festival, the organizers announced on Wednesday.

The works are from Artists from Iran, China, the U.S., Mexico, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Poland, South Korea, Russia, Ecuador and dozens of other countries.

The festival is Iran’s sole environmental event on motion pictures, which also regards other media on its sidelines.

The 6th edition of the festival will be held in Tehran and several other Iranian cities from September 9 to 15.

This year’s festival has put its spotlight on movies promoting green economy, secretary of the festival Farhad Tohidi said earlier in February.

The festival also plans to highlight sustainable tourism this year in line with UN World Tourism Organization’s decision to name 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

Topics such as clean energy and sustainable cities have been taken into consideration in selecting movies for the festival, which was first scheduled to be held in July.

However, the Department of Environment, the main organizer of the event, postponed it until September due to the allegedly unpredictable intense heat in Iran. / Tehran times /

A relatively long-standing gas station in downtown Tehran has recently been inscribed on the National Heritage List, bringing the number of Iran’s registered heritage sites to 31710, ISNA reported on Wednesday.

Called gas station number 234 — formerly number 4 – it marks the second oldest filling station in the county after a counterpart in Abadan, said Akbar Nematollahi, the director of Iran Petroleum Museum and Documents.

Such old stations enjoyed unique architecture, which unfortunately many of them have been demolished or repurposed over the course of time, he added.

Located on 15th Khordad St., the gas station number 4 was built by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in the early 20th century during the Reza Shah Pahlavi reign (1925 – 1941).

The country’s oldest gas station in Abadan, Khuzestan province, was placed on National Heritage list earlier this month. The monument is now part of a petroleum industry museum, which showcases variety of documents and objects such as pumps, scales, jerry cans amongst other tools. / Tehran times /

Iran’s crude oil exports to European Union countries in the first four months of the year reached 9.31 million tons, more than six times higher than those in the corresponding period last year.

That is equivalent to a total of 66.5 million barrels, or nearly 560,000 barrels per day, Tasnim News Agency reported, citing Eurostat, the official news portal of the European Commission.

The 28-nation bloc took in 1.37 million tons of oil in January-April 2016. The higher export is largely attributed to the lifting of international restrictions against Iran which allowed the OPEC member to recoup the lost ground in the global crude market.

Italy purchased 2.8 million tons in the four-month period, accounting for nearly 30% of all imports. France and Spain were the other major customers, taking in 2.2 million tons and 1.1 million tons respectively.

Greece, whose largest refiner Hellenic Petroleum was the first western company to resume oil trade with Iran after the lifting of sanctions, shipped in 1.04 million tons of crude from the Persian Gulf producer in the said period.

An official at NIOC, the state-owned oil company, said last month that Iran has signed contracts to export between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels per day of crude to its customers in Europe.

Tehran says it exports close to 2.1 million bpd of crude oil and between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels a day of condensates, a type of ultra light crude. The No. 3 OPEC producer aims to ramp up supplies to 4.7 million bpd by 2021.

Iran used to sell around 800,000 bpd to European buyers before the tightening of international economic curbs in 2011 and 2012. Sanctions curtailed production to around 2.5 million bpd as exports to Europe dropped to zero.

French energy company Total S.A., Italy’s Eni and Saras, Russia’s Lukoil, Spanish refiner Cepsa, Royal Dutch Shell and Hungary’s MOL are among Iran’s oil customers.

/  Financial tribune /

Mohammad Nabi Rezaei won the first medal in the history of the Iranian canoeing at the Junior World Championship.

At the junior individual canoeing of 1000 meters in calm waters, Mohammad Nabi Rezaei won the bronze medal and placed third after Russia and Latvia.

He rode the 1000 meters in 4: 51: 531 and climbed the third step of the world podium for the first time for Iran in this class. / Isna /

Construction of the first women-only beach in the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm, southern province of Hormozgan, started on Thursday.

The project which is stretching over 2.5 hectares of southern coasts will be developed in three separate phases, IRNA reported.

Making an investment of 100 billion rials (nearly $2.5 million) the private sector is financing the project.

The first phase, including basic facilities namely restrooms, bathrooms, locker rooms, safety deposit boxes, in addition to restaurants, spa treatment, pergolas, coffee shops, shopping areas, kids play areas, green spaces etc. will be completed by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2018).

Over the second phase of the project swimming pools, gym, accommodations, beauty salons, traditional restaurants, and artificial night lighting at the beach will be set up as well.

Environment friendly marine hotels and sea water parks, by causing minimal damages to the ecosystem, will be constructed over the last phase of the Qeshm island first women-only beach project.  / Tehran times /

The gas deal with Iraq includes two contracts, one to send gas to Baghdad and another to send exports to the southern city of Basra via pipeline

Iraq is looking to increase natural gas imports from Iran within an agreement that would allow the Arab country to receive up to five times more gas from the current level.

“Gas flow to Baghdad is currently at 7-8 million cubic meters per day. But Iraq has asked for higher amounts,” Hamidreza Araqi, chief executive officer of National Iranian Gas Company, was quoted as saying by IRNA on Friday.

Iran began supplying Iraq with natural gas through a pipeline last month, about four years after the two countries signed a preliminary export deal.

Based on the terms of the agreement, exports have begun at a rate of 7 million cubic meters per day to Baghdad and will increase to 35 million cubic meters daily, about five times the current rate. The agreement includes two contracts, one to send gas to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and another to send exports to the southern city of Basra via pipeline.

The war-ravaged Arab neighbor needs Iran’s gas to feed three of its power plants and alleviate chronic outages that have sparked protests against the government in Baghdad and its poor public services in the past few years, particularly during the hot summer season when electricity demand soars.

Contingent Supplies

There were reports that gas exports would begin in September 2016, with the initial amount of 7 mcm/d, yet in addition to security concerns, when terrorists took control of large swathes of Iraqi territory, there was trouble with the funding and operational issues related to the construction of the pipeline inside Iraq.

The NIGC chief did not say if and when gas exports to Iraq will rise, but stressed that any increase will depend on higher output from South Pars, a giant gas field shared between Iran and Qatar in the Persian Gulf. Government data show that Iran produced more than 880 mcm/d of gas, more than two-thirds of which come from South Pars.

“Ramping up gas supply to Iraq will become feasible upon increasing production capacities in the South Pars field,” Araqi said. According to published reports, Iran can generate $3.7 billion annually through the export of the clean fossil fuel to Iraq.

Though Iraq is the second-largest producer of OPEC, the country has been incapable of meeting its domestic electricity demand. Iraq’s peak electricity demand is about 21,000 megawatts in summer and the grid is only able to supply about 13,000 megawatts, Reuters reported in April 2016.

The average Iraqi household receives power for just 7.6 hours a day, according to data from a report by Iraq Energy Expo. As a result of the shortfall, homes need to obtain half their power needs from generators. Iraq is now Iran’s second largest gas customer behind Turkey, which imported about 21 mcm/d in 2016, according to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

Iraqi Energy Minister Qasim al-Fahdawi said this month the country will need Iranian natural gas for at least the next seven years to meet a shortage of feedstock at its power stations. / Financial tribune /

Two movies by Iranian filmmakers will compete in the Orizzonti (Horizons) section at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, the organizers announced last week.

“Disappearance” by Ali Asgari and “No Date, No Signature” by Vahid Jalilvand will be screened in this category dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema.

The story of “Disappearance” produced at the Doha Film Institute is set on a cold winter night in Tehran where a couple of young lovers run into a serious problem. They have just a few hours to come up with a solution.

“No Date, No Signature” is about Dr. Nariman, a forensic pathologist who has a car accident with a motorcyclist and injures his 8-year-old son. He offers to take the child to a clinic nearby, but the father refuses his help and money. The next morning, in the hospital where he works, Dr. Nariman finds out that the little boy has been brought for an autopsy after a suspicious death.

Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, the Iranian director of numerous acclaimed films, is a member of the panel for the Orizzonti section.

The Italian director Gianni Amelio will preside over the jury, which also includes American director Ami Canaan Mann and Irish-Scottish director and screenwriter Mark Cousins.

Argentine screenwriter Andrés Duprat, Belgian director and screenwriter Fien Troch and French screenwriter and director Rebecca Zlotowski are the other members of the jury.

Twenty films from around the world will be screened in the section.

The 74th Venice International Film Festival will be held on the Italian Lido from August 30 to September 9. /  Tehran times /