Iranian Crude Oil Marketing & Sale After The Islamic Republic

Abstract:     
The marketing and sales polices of Iranian crude oil have been revised and changed after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Production policy that drastically cut back production in order to maintain oil reserves for future generations. In terms of marketing Iranian crude oil, the new revolutionary government reoriented its customer base away from the West and towards fellow Muslim countries. By extension, all oil sales to Israel were immediate stopped. Specifically, Iran announced that its total crude oil exports would only equal that needed to support its foreign exchange needs. Before the Revolution, much of Iran's exported crude oil sold via the Consortium. After 1979 all of the Consortium‘s employees were asked to leave the oil industry and the country. The National Iranian Oil Company assumed direct responsibility for marketing and selling. In this paper, the policies and methods of marketing and selling of Iranian crude oil will be discussed. This paper will also analyze and identify the main factors which have affected Iranian export crude oil prices since 1979. For this reason, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) had been utilized in order to prioritize the factors and measure the weight of their influence. The findings demonstrate that the most important factor is the quality of crude oil (API and Sulfur content) whilst the NIOC‘s own 'General Terms and Conditions (GTC)‘ had the smallest effect. More controversially, this research demonstrates that international sanctions had the second highest effect upon Iran‘s ability to market and sell crude oil for the international market.

Keywords: Iranian Crude Oil, Marketing, Pricing, Sale, AHP, Energy, Sanction, Islamic Republic

JEL Classification: A10, A11, A12, B00, B21, B22, B4, B41, B40, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, D2, D21, D4, D3, D4, F1

Accepted Paper Series