Iran protests spread to critical oil, gas facilities

Market: Crude oil, Natural gas, Oil products
11/10/22

Civil unrest that has swept across Iran following the death of a young woman in police custody risks causing disruption to the country's lucrative oil and gas sector, with videos being shared on social media today showing workers on strike at Iran's largest oil refinery in Abadan.

The unverified videos posted on Twitter and Telegram show crowds of oil workers gathering outside the 400,000 b/d Abadan refinery in Khuzestan earlier on Tuesday. The workers, some in uniform, are chanting slogans and "protesting", according to the narrator of one of the videos.

The incident at Abadan comes after videos began to surface yesterday of similar strike action at petrochemical facilities in the coastal city of Assaluyeh in Iran's southern Bushehr province, where gas from the giant offshore South Pars field is processed. Workers at one facility were heard to chant: "We have gone on strike to support our compatriots." In other videos, some groups were shouting slogans targeting Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "This is the year of blood. Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] will be overthrown."

The strike in Assaluyeh was primarily being carried out by contractors, rather than permanent staff employed directly by state-owned refiner NIORDC, according to an Iranian industry source. And today's videos suggest contract workers are also leading the strikes at Abadan, with several individuals wearing the uniforms of Iranian oil service company IGC. The firm is involved in a number of projects at the Abadan refinery, including upgrading the facility to produce higher-quality oil products.

Iran's state news agency Irna has acknowledged that protests took place in Assaluyeh yesterday but described them as "limited" and said they were related to a dispute over wages. The agency has dismissed the reports of unrest at Abadan though, insisting that operations at the refinery were "going on as normal".

This week's protests at Assaluyeh and Abadan mark the first time that the unrest, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last month, has spread to Iran's key oil and gas sector, which remains the lifeblood of the country's economy despite US sanctions being reimposed on Tehran's oil exports in 2018. Iran exported just shy of 750,000 b/d of crude in the third quarter of this year, according to Argus tracking. Although still significantly lower than pre-sanctions levels of more than 2mn b/d, it is close to double what Iran was selling in late 2019 and much of 2020.

So far, the unrest has been largely contained and is unlikely to have had any meaningful impact on the production or export of Iranian oil. But any further escalation over the coming days or weeks, particularly in Iran's oil and gas heartland of Khuzestan, could disrupt operations.

By Nader Itayim

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Japan’s Chugoku restarts Shimane nuclear reactor early

Osaka, 23 December (Argus) — Japanese utility Chugoku Electric Power restarted the 820MW Shimane No.2 nuclear reactor for test operations on 23 December, two days earlier than originally planned. The No.2 reactor at Shimane in west Japan's Shimane prefecture was reconnected to the country's power grids for the first time in nearly 13 years, after the reactor shut down in January 2012 for stricter safety inspections following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown disaster. Chugoku reactivated the Shimane No.2 reactor on 7 December, aiming to resume power generation on 25 December. But the target date for commercial operations remained unchanged on 10 January, despite the earlier than expected restart. The Shimane No.2 reactor will be a vital power source as the sole nuclear fleet in the Chugoku area, to help enhance the resilience of the power supply structure, stabilise retail electricity prices and reduce CO2 emissions, said Japan Atomic Industrial Forum's president Hideki Masui on 23 December. The Shimane No.2 reactor is the second boiling water reactor (BWR) to be restarted after the Fukushima disaster, following the 825MW Onagawa No.2 BWR unit that resumed test generation on 15 November, with normal operations scheduled to restart on 26 December. The BWR is the same type as that involved in the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The restart of the two BWRs would pave the way for Japan's nuclear restoration, as 15 BWRs — including advanced BWRs — are still closed in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Japan has restored 14 reactors as of 23 December, including the Shimane and Onagaw reactors, of which 12 are installed with a pressurised water reactor (PWR) design. Nuclear power's share The Japanese government last week set a target of 20pc for nuclear power's share in the country's draft power mix for the April 2040-March 2041 fiscal year, under the triennial review for the country's Strategic Energy Plan (SEP). Tokyo is seeking to restart all existing reactors to achieve the 20pc goal, adding that replacement reactors would also be possible. The draft SEP allows nuclear power operators that had decommissioned reactors to build next-generation reactors at their nuclear sites, not limited to the same site. The previous SEP did not mention building new reactors or replacements. Japan's Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC) has applauded this progress, but FEPC chairman Kingo Hayashi noted that it was disappointing the SEP did not mention a nuclear capacity target which the FEPC had requested. It also did not include building new reactors or the expansion of existing nuclear plants, Hayashi added. By Motoko Hasegawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Viewpoint: Europe’s refiners eye support from closures

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Viewpoint: Europe’s refiners eye support from closures

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