Iran's national gas company said it is facing collapse, the latest sign of deepening economic distress from international sanctions as Tehran seeks urgent relief in talks with world powers.
The chief executive officer of state-owned National Iranian Gas Company, Hamid Reza Araghi, said over the weekend that the company has declared bankruptcy, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency. The report said the company had a debt of 100 trillion rials, or about $4 billion.
The company tried to backtrack on the comments Monday. Majid Boujarzadeh, a spokesman reached by phone, denied it was bankrupt. But media reports also quoted Iran's oil minister, Bijan Zangeneh, as saying the gas company "is destroyed."
The sanctions, aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, have devastated the country's critical energy industry. While gas is a relatively small income generator, oil exports, a major revenue source, have been slashed by nearly half since the beginning of 2012.
"Iran's economy is out of breath," said Fereydoun Khavand, an economist and Iran expert based in Paris. "They've always had mismanagement, but they were able to ward it off with oil revenues. Now their pockets are emptying out fast."
In Washington, lawmakers have cited the effectiveness of sanctions in arguing for intensifying them. However, President Barack Obama has invited senators to meet on Tuesday as the White House increases pressure on Congress to back the negotiations with Iran.
Iran sits on the world's second-largest gas reserves, estimated at about 15% of the world's total. It exports to Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Gas revenues were estimated at about $10.5 million per day in 2012, a fraction of what Iran earns from oil.
Sanctions have forced the country to curb natural gas projects such as expansion of pipelines and dashed hopes of exporting to Europe.Read the rest of the story HERE and view a related video below:
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2 comments:
"Iran's national gas company said it is facing collapse, the latest sign of deepening economic distress from international sanctions as Tehran seeks urgent relief in talks with world powers."
Yeah..It makes perfect sense now to ease up on sanctions and let them at their money...NONSENSE....OBAMAsense.
The only thing they should be given is an ultimatum...to meet our original demands or live with MORE SANCTIONS.
The Obama admin is doing their best to make sure these are"non-sanction sanctions." After all, can't protect those evil Israelis from destruction now, can we?(sarc)
AZ
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