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The Iranian Oil Bourse[1] (Persian: بورس نفت ایران) International Oil Bourse,[2] Iran Petroleum Exchange Kish Exchange[3] or Oil Bourse in Kish[4] (IOB; the official English language name is unclear) is a commodity exchange which opened on February 17, 2008.[5][6][7][4] It was created by cooperation between Iranian ministries, the Iran Mercantile Exchange and other state and private institutions. The IOB is intended as an oil bourse for petroleum, petrochemicals and gas in various currencies other than the United States dollar, primarily the euro and Iranian rial and a basket of other major (non-US) currencies. The geographical location is at the Persian Gulf island of Kish which is designated by Iran as a free trade zone.[8]
During 2007, Iran asked its petroleum customers to pay in non US dollar currencies. By December 8, 2007, Iran reported to have converted all of its oil export payments to non-dollar currencies.[9] The Kish Bourse was officially opened in a videoconference ceremony on February 17, 2008, despite last minute disruptions to the internet services to the Persian Gulf regions. Currently the Kish Bourse is only trading in oil-derived products, generally those used as feedstock for the plastics and pharmaceutical industries. However, officially published statements by Iranian oil minister Gholamhossein Nozari indicate that the second phase, to establish trading in crude oil directly, which has been suggested might one day perhaps create a "Caspian Crude" benchmark price analogous to Brent Crude or WTI will only be started after the Bourse has demonstrated a reasonable period of trouble-free running.[10]
The three current oil markers are all US dollar denominated: North America's West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI), North Sea Brent Crude, and the UAE Dubai Crude. The two major oil bourses are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in New York City and the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) in London & Atlanta. As the Oil Bourse in Kish is developed through successive stages, the plan is to establish a Petrobourse as a fourth oil market, denominated by the Iranian rial, the euro and other major currencies.
Iran sits on some of the largest oil and gas reserves in the world.[11] The bourse will offer 40 kinds of oil products. Iran produces over 25 percent of the total output of petrochemical products in the Middle East. At least 30 domestic companies and 20 foreign firms are active in the oil and petrochemical industries on Kish Island.[12]
At the time of the Oil Bourse's opening on Kish, the Director of the Kish Stock Exchange, Hossein Allahdadi, said that there "are no limitations imposed on transactions by foreign shareholders at the Oil Bourse in Kish".[4]
As of 2009, the Oil Bourse was a spot market for petrochemical products mainly, with plans to introduce sharia-compliant futures contracts for crude oil and petrochemicals in the future, during the second phase. Trading takes place through licensed private brokers registered with the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran. Any company, domestic or foreign, can list their products on the exchange for as long as they meet the listing criteria.
Global standards for Islamic derivatives were set in 2010. The “Hedging Master Agreement” provides a structure under which institutions can trade derivatives such as profit-rate and currency swaps.[13]
The Iranian oil bourse, first reported in 2005, initially had a widely publicised opening date of March 20, 2006.[14] which is the Iranian New Year, Nauroz. According to an April 2005 report, the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), the Wimpole Consortium and a private staff fund for retired petroleum workers were to form a consortium developing the exchange.[15]
January 2006 Chris Cook of the Wimpole Consortium referred to delays in the process due to the election to the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and subsequent difficulty in appointing a new oil minister acceptable both to the president and parliament.[16]
March 2006 the Petroleum Minister of Iran, Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, announced that due to "technical glitches", the Bourse launch was postponed, with no new date set.[17] However, as of April 26 Iran had restarted its move to open the oil market, and Kazem announced the bourse was set to open the first week of May.[18]
May 2006 Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Davoud Danesh-Jafari said the Oil Ministry has a two-month deadline for presenting the Articles of Association of the Iranian Oil Bourse. Danesh-Jafari said that the euro had not yet been finalized as the legal tender of transactions in the oil bourse, and the final decision about that depends upon the Oil Ministry’s proposed IOB Articles of Association.[19]
July 2006 a building has been purchased and the projected opening date was originally slated for September 2006.[20] On September 15, Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh stated that all preparatory requirements had been arranged for launching the oil stock market in the country.[21] However, the launch has still not occurred.
December 2006 Bloomberg cited two Iranian newspapers reporting Iran's Minister of Economy Davoud Danesh-Ja'fari Iran as wanting to cut US dollar based transactions to a minimum.[22]
March 2007 Tehran based Press TV reported that the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad announced a shift of its major currency from dollars to euros. Iraqis traveling to Iran will pay for a visa in euros in line with other Iran Embassy locations.[23]
March 2007 The New York Times reported that China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Trading, the biggest buyer of Iranian crude worldwide, began paying for its oil in euros late last year. Iranian officials have said for months that more than half the OPEC member's customers switched their payment currency away from the dollar as Tehran seeks to diversify its reserves, but news of the Zhenrong change is the first outside confirmation. Japan has also announced that it would be willing to switch to Yen from US Dollars.[24] Iran's central banker announced in March 2007 that Iran had cut its holding of U.S.-dollar assets to around 20% of its foreign reserves in response to U.S. hostility.[25]
July 2007 Iran asked Japan to pay for its oil purchases in Japanese Yen.[26]
September 2007 Japan's Nippon Oil has agreed to buy Iranian oil using yen.[27]
December 2007 Iran stops accepting U.S. dollars for oil.[28]
January 2008 Iran's Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari told reporters that the bourse will be opened during the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution (February 1-11).[1]
February 2008 On February 4, the Iranian Cabinet approved the creation of the oil bourse in two stages - first a raw oil exchange and secondly an oil byproducts exchange. The Ministry of Finance and Economics, the Oil Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Central Bank of Iran are required to create a workgroup to coordinate the project, and the Iran Commodities Bourse Company is given the task of carrying out the project. The communique from the Cabinet states that the "Ministry of Finance and Economics Affairs is required to take measures in making the petrochemical byproducts bourse operational by the end of February 2008."[29]
February 17, 2008: The Iranian Oil Bourse was inaugurated in a video conference ceremony from the capital Tehran attended by ministers of oil, finance and economic affairs as well as chairman of Iran's Stock Exchange and a number of other officials and financial experts.[5] The transactions will be made in Iranian rial, yen, euro and other major currencies.[6] The Iranian Oil Bourse will probably accept Russian ruble as well.[7] The first transaction of the IOB took place at 9:30 the following morning, when 2200 tonnes of low density polyethylene (LD-PE), held in 100 tonne cases, were traded.[4]
November 2008: According to Chairman of Board of Directors for Iranian Oil Bourse Mehdi Karbasian ever since the launch of the first phase of the bourse, transactions worth over $1.5 billion have been made on different oil and petrochemical products.[30]
December 2008: Iran is permitting local private firms and not just foreign companies to enter the trade in Iranian crude. One organization that could now trade was Bonyad-e Mostazafen va Janbazan - a body that helps the underprivileged and war disabled, or a charitable trust with business interests.[31]
October 2009: IRNA reported that "National Petrochemical Company's Managing Director Adel Nejad-Salim said in the opening ceremony that all petrochemical products will be gradually offered on the market."[32] In the first phase, only petrochemical products such as polyethylene and methanol were traded on a spot basis and in Iranian Rial. However, with the completion of the second phase, crude and by-products of oil can also be traded on the exchange in both Iranian Rial and Euro.
April 2011: Iran inaugurated the third phase of oil bourse with vast opportunities for foreign companies. All types of contracts in the oil bourse will be based upon global standards of purchase and sale and in accordance with Islamic rules.[33]
August 2011: A shipment of 500,000 barrels of heavy crude oil were offered at the Kish Commodity Exchange on 18 August 2011 and were traded at USD 105.49 per barrel. The crude consignment was traded without any discount or additional premium.[34]
Iran has proposed the creation of a Petrochemical Exporting Countries Forum (PECF) which aims at financial and technological cooperation among members, as well as product pricing and policy making in production issues. According to the Managing Director of National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC), Abdolhossein Bayat, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Russia, Qatar, and Turkey are potential members of PECF.[35]
It has been suggested that 2008 submarine cable disruption was connected with the launch of Iranian oil bourse and that the internet connection of Iran was being targeted to stop the launch of Iranian oil bourse.[36][37][38][39][40]