The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is preparing for three big trades involving six million barrels of oil and condensates in a local bourse next week.

A Wednesday statement on the NIOC website said that the trades at Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) are planned for three consecutive days beginning on Monday.

It said two million barrels of condensates, an extremely light form of oil and normally a byproduct of natural gas production, will be traded at IRENEX on Monday at an initial price of $57.87 per barrel.

On Tuesday, the NIOC said, two million barrels of light crude will be traded at an initial price of $56.72 per barrel while a 2-million-barrel cargo of heavy crude will be traded on Wednesday at an initial price of $52.77 per barrel.

All the trades will take place at the export ring of IRENEX, a local mechanism for energy trade which has been used since mid-summer for selling Iran’s oil and petrochemical products.

If sold at the declared prices, the three cargo of oil could generate around $350 million in income for the NIOC, a company which has seen its normal and direct sale of crude to foreign customers reduced as a result of sanctions imposed by the United States.

The IRENEX said earlier this week that the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) had sold off 115 million liters of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in a single day of trade in the exchange, generating more than $23 million in income.

The successful sell-off by the NIORDC may have encouraged the NIOC to accelerate its plans for trade of oil cargoes at IRENEX.

The Wednesday statement on the NIOC website said that the planned sale of oil through the local bourse is in line with the company's obligations under a national budget law while insisting the trade could diversify the sale methods at the time Iran is practicing “the economy of resistance”.