Since the beginning of the current year (March 20, 2020), 8.6 million tons of oil products have been sold at the IRENEX, of which 7.6 million tons have been sold for exports and only one million tons have been consumed domestically, Hosseini said.
The figures show a growth compared to the preceding year, he added.
Since the US withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear pact in May 2018, vowing to drive Iran's oil exports down to zero, the Islamic Republic has been taking various measures to counter US actions and to lessen its economy’s reliance on oil.
The country also sought new strategies to help its oil exports afloat, one of which is diversifying the mechanism of oil sales, like offering oil and oil products at the country’s stock market.
In the past few years, Iranian think-tanks and energy experts have been repeatedly stating that the country should increase its refining capacity in order to lessen the economy’s reliance on crude sales.
In this regard, one of the main strategies of the National Iranian Oil Company in recent years has been focusing on the country’s refineries and offering various oil products at IRENEX in order to increase the exports.
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