Iran: how many divisions? in oil
(BRUSSELS2) At a time when a new series of sanctions is being built against Iran, with an oil embargo as a result, it is interesting to see how much Iran weighs in the world oil balance and especially in the European balance. A country that weighs its weight at the global level: 4th world oil producer (the 2nd of OPEC) with 4,2 million barrels produced per day in 2010 (i.e. 203 million tonnes and 5,2% of world production ) and 4th country in terms of oil reserves. A country which is also not negligible for the European Union.
Torn between internal consumption
About 2/3 of this production is exported (2,6 million barrels per day), mostly to Asia and the Pacific. This makes it the 3rd largest exporter in the world. A position that has not been achieved despite the stagnation of production and the increase in internal consumption. Its main buyers are China, Japan and India. The European Union is the buyer for around a quarter of oil exports. To compare, Libya produces 1 million barrels per day (4% of world production), 1,7% of this production was exported, mainly to Europe.
But Iran remains highly dependent on refining. He does not have great skills in this area. Or it is not of sufficient quality. It thus imported about 78.000 barrels/day of refined diesel in 2010, or about 70% of its total imports.
A significant European supplier
Iran is not the first supplier for Europe. But it is not negligible either, especially for some countries. It is the 5th supplier after Russia, Norway, Libya and Saudi Arabia, according to European statistics. Certain countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain are dependent on Iranian oil, as shown in the statistical table below based on monthly data for 2010. Compared to this table, the first data for 2011 show a some slump in oil imports. The share of Iranian oil fell to 4,7% of total European imports. And there are only 8 countries left to import oil from the Islamic Republic; 3 countries (Austria, Portugal, United Kingdom) have no longer used it.
|
Member state |
Quantity (1000T) |
Share in total EU Iranian oil import |
Share in the country's oil import |
|
Italy |
10 143 |
33,80% |
13,1% |
|
Spain |
7 671 |
25,30% |
14,6% |
|
Greece |
2 845 |
9,40% |
14,0% |
|
Austria |
653 (*) |
2,20% |
9,7% |
|
Belgium |
3 016 |
9,90% |
9,0% |
|
Netherlands |
2 233 |
7,40% |
4,4% |
|
France |
1 764 |
5,80% |
2,8% |
|
Rep. Czech |
161 |
0,50% |
2,1% |
|
Germany |
1 499 |
4,90% |
1,6% |
|
Portugal |
168 (*) |
0,60% |
1,5% |
|
United Kingdom |
87 (*) |
0,30% |
0,2% |
(*) fall in imports to 0 in the first five months of 2011
Read also:
