SHANA - The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) says the price of oil it offers at the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) is not discounted for domestic buyers.

Speaking to Shana on Sunday, Saeed Khoshrou said the prices were charged based on the global oil prices; therefore, if the traded shipments were quoted lower during IRENEX Sunday session than the base price announced by NIOC in an earlier announcement, it was because of price fluctuations in the global market.

NIOC had previously put 79.15 dollars per barrel of crude oil as the base price for the shipments traded at IRENEX but priced 280,000 barrels at $74.85 per barrel on the market’s Sunday session.

"Oil prices have fallen in the past two weeks, and this does not mean any discounts,” he said.

Brent crude prices reached their highest level in four years in the week that NIOC released the announcement for offering crude oil in the Energy Exchange, which were followed by a downtrend.

NIOC offered a million barrels of crude oil on IRENEX on Sunday, of which 280,000 barrels were traded.

Asked about who the buyers were, the official said it was illegal to announce the particulars of the buyers.

Mr. Khoshrou further said that the remaining 720,000 barrels would be offered in the following days but would not be priced any lower that Sunday prices at Iran Energy Exchange.

He further said supply of one million barrels of oil at the trade floor of IRENEX would continue with the current trend and changes would be made if needed in future supplies.