By Tsvetana Paraskova

India used the ultra-low crude oil prices earlier this year to top its strategic petroleum reserves with oil at $19 a barrel, saving nearly US$700 million in the process, India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Monday

OPEC revised down by another 400,000 bpd its forecast for global oil demand this year, expecting consumption to shrink by 9.5 million bpd over 2019, cutting forecasts for the second month in a row as risks with the pandemic and economic activity remains skewed to the downside.

Iraq is debating whether to ask to be exempted from the oil production cuts OPEC+ agreed on this April. Initially set at 9.7 million bpd, the cuts have now been eased to 7.7 million bpd but as the second-largest producer in OPEC, Iraq is shouldering quite a large chunk of the total burden and is not happy about it.

TEHRAN – Operating the largest natural gas network in West Asia, National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) continues to expand this network into the country’s most remote areas so that currently over 95 percent of the country’s population enjoys natural gas through this huge network.

TEHRAN – Over $10 billion of investment has been made in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical industries during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21) despite the problems and limitations caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. sanctions.