Iran’s has announced plans to invest $46 billion in oil refineries to make the
country self-sufficient.
Alireza Zeighami, Iran’s deputy oil minister,
said the country would invest the money to develop and optimize the country’s
oil refineries. United Nations sanctions, he said, would not curb the
refineries’ construction.
Iran’s import of gas has nosedived as a result
of the fourth round of UN sanctions.
According to a report by Reuters,
only three ships brought gas to Iran in July, as international traders begin to
shy away from doing business in the Islamic Republic.
“This is a hopeful
stab at defiance against the sanctions regime being imposed on Iran,” said Rory
Fyfe, an expert on the Middle East oil and gas industry with the Economist
Intelligence Unit.
“But it will be some time before we know whether the
sanctions are having their desired effect.”
The UN Security Council
slapped a fourth round of sanctions on Iran in June, barring dealings with firms
linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Revolutionary Guard
is a separate organization from the Iranian army and operates its own armed
forces, navy, air force and militia. Its goal is to preserve the theocracy in
Teheran, but over the years it has widened its scope and runs a vast business
empire, ranging from construction to telecommunications.
Potkin Azarmehr,
an Iranian opposition blogger, said the sanctions seem to be having an effect
and that the government is concerned.
“Despite the government putting on
a bravado face, the sanction are appearing to have a bite,” Azarmehr
said.
“We see in the news that we are getting from people in Iran that
the economic conditions are getting worse, there are long queues for petrol and
price hikes like never before.
“The merchant class is also getting
worried and they are usually a good indication on the economy,” he
said.
Despite Iran having some of the largest proven oil and gas reserves
in the world the country suffers from a severe lack of refining
capabilities.
The crude oil needs to be exported to be refined into
consumer products such as gas, which then has to be reimported at a higher
cost.
Following the new UN sanctions, which cover all 192 member states
of the global body, both the United States and European Union tightened their
own sanctions further.