IAIA uses its publications to contribute to global sustainable development proj-ects in line with the goals of the Ramsar Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Gl
Trang 1in the postwar era and added to the demand for
petro-leum fuels These diverse uses of the internal
combus-tion engine and its dependability made this design a
favorite in the marketplace for more than one
cen-tury despite its inefficiency and the fact that it
pol-luted the environment
Resource Use
The demand and consumption of petroleum as a fuel
grew with the increased uses of the internal
combus-tion engine in the twentieth and early twenty-first
cen-turies For example, in the United States gasoline use
increased more than tenfold from 1910 to 1950 as
Americans embraced the car culture, and it tripled
between 1950 and 2000, an era of suburban growth
and multiple-car families Gasoline consumption far
outpaced domestic petroleum production, and the
United States tripled the amount of oil it imported in
the short time period from 1967 to 1973 As of 2010,
the United States continued to import more than 60
percent of the petroleum it consumed each year
Al-though the internal combustion engine was the
pre-eminent mobile power source of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, its use of nonrenew-able energy resources and the pollutants it released generated a growing interest in finding alternative sources of reliable mobile power
H J Eisenman
Further Reading
Black, Edwin Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives New York: St Martin’s Press, 2006 Cummins, C Lyle, Jr Internal Fire Rev ed
Warren-dale, Pa.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1989
Josephson, Paul R Motorized Obsessions: Life, Liberty, and the Small-Bore Engine Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2007
Lay, M G Ways of the World: A History of the World’s Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them New
Bruns-wick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992
Pulkrabek, Willard W Engineering Fundamentals of the Internal Combustion Engine 2d ed Upper Saddle
River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004
Intake port
Spark plug
and Exhaust
Exhaust port
Standard Four-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine
A generalized depiction of the four-stroke internal combustion engine Intake: Air enters the cylinder and mixes with gasoline vapor Compres-sion: The cylinder is sealed, and the piston moves upward to compress the air-fuel mixture Ignition: The spark plug ignites the mixture, creat-ing pressure that drives the piston downward Expansion (exhaust): The burned gases exit the cylinder.
Trang 2Sher, Eran, ed Handbook of Air Pollution from Internal
Combustion Engines: Pollutant Formation and Control.
Boston: Academic Press, 1998
Stone, Richard Introduction to Internal Combustion
Engines 3d ed Warrendale, Pa.: Society of
Automo-tive Engineers, 1999
Web Site
How Stuff Works
How Car Engines Work: Internal Combustion
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine1.htm
See also: Air pollution and air pollution control;
Clean Air Act; Gasoline and other petroleum fuels;
Oil and natural gas distribution; Oil embargo and
energy crises of 1973 and 1979; Oil industry;
Petro-leum refining and processing; Transportation, energy
use in
International Association for Impact
Assessment
Category: Organizations, agencies, and programs
Date: Established 1980
The International Association for Impact Assessment
brings together researchers in the sciences and social
sciences, policy makers, academics, and others to
ana-lyze the possible and probable consequences for
develop-ment policies that have an impact on the
environmen-tal, social, economic, and cultural health of human
societies around the world.
Background
The International Association for Impact Assessment
(IAIA) is a nongovernmental organization dedicated
to the protection of biodiversity and the promotion of
sustainable development on a local to global scale
IAIA supports free and open access to all its
environ-mental impact assessment projects, which use the
most current, comprehensive, and unbiased research
findings available IAIA consists of more than
twenty-five hundred members in more than one hundred
countries All IAIA research projects aim to protect
both the natural environment and human rights,
while developing increasingly sophisticated
environ-mental impact assessments
Impact on Resource Use IAIA divides members’ research projects into a num-ber of departments The agriculture, forestry, and fisheries department collects data to develop numer-ous and widely available sustainable practices The biodiversity and ecology department provides infor-mation to help establish environmentally significant and sensitive locations and develop ways to protect them The disaster and conflict department collects information on the environmental impact of natural disasters, including the negative impact on biodiver-sity in affected areas This helps develop environmen-tally and human-sensitive policy responses The cor-porate stewardship department assists corporations
in designing environmentally positive decisions in their manufacturing, marketing, and distribution pro-cesses Trade-related projects focus on environmen-tally benign international and transnational trade development
IAIA includes a department dedicated specifically
to assessing the impact of development policies on in-digenous peoples and how best to preserve tradi-tional forms of knowledge The health impact depart-ment collects and disseminates information related to the connections between human health and environ-mental development and/or preservation IAIA also tracks environmental impact legislation around the globe via its impact assessment law department All IAIA departments include options for public participation in environmental impact assessments and the provision of information helpful in construct-ing legislation in line with IAIA mission of environ-mentally aware development IAIA publishes research findings, including requisite estimated cost-benefit
analyses, in its professional journal, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal The journal also includes a best
practices section, book reviews, and updates on global environmental projects and legislation Additionally IAIA publishes numerous books on assessment meth-odologies in order to ensure that research findings are reported in the most credible and functional way for later use in drafting legislation or supporting pol-icy decisions These methodology texts include vol-umes on what to assess for biodiversity impact, how research samples must be constructed for social im-pact assessments, and options for developing corpo-rate stewardship decisions IAIA uses its publications
to contribute to global sustainable development proj-ects in line with the goals of the Ramsar Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Global Resources International Association for Impact Assessment • 619
Trang 3Water Forum, the Espoo Convention, and the
Con-vention on Migratory Species
Victoria Erhart
Web Site
International Association for Impact
Assessment
http://www.iaia.org/
See also: Biodiversity; Ecology; Environmental
eth-ics; Environmental impact statement; Ramsar
Con-vention; Sustainable development; United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity
International Atomic Energy Agency
Category: Organizations, agencies, and programs
Date: Established 1957
The primary function of the International Atomic
En-ergy Agency (IAEA) is to stimulate and support research,
development, and practical implementation of atomic
energy for peaceful, safe, and secure uses throughout the
world The organization plays a vital role in verifying
that all member governments comply with their
commit-ments made to the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Background
Impetus for the establishment of the IAEA was
initi-ated by President Dwight D Eisenhower in 1953 when
he presented his “Atoms for Peace” speech before the
United Nations General Assembly The agency was
launched on July 29, 1957, to regulate the global use
of atomic energy
Impact on Resource Use
The IAEA is a center for the dissemination of
informa-tion on peaceful applicainforma-tions of nuclear energy and
technology worldwide Although it is an independent
organization, the IAEA reports its activities to the
General Assembly and the Security Council of the
United Nations The organization—headquartered
in Vienna, Austria—runs education programs to help
train and direct young people from all over the world
with career development in scientific endeavors that
promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy and
pro-tect the global environment and safety of people
In addition to promoting the peaceful use of
atomic energy, the IAEA monitors relevant activities and applies safeguards that help ensure that atomic energy is not used for military purposes The agency helps to enforce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other international treaties dealing with the use
of atomic energy IAEA inspectors visit nuclear facili-ties periodically to verify the locations and amounts of nuclear materials used by member countries and to check on instruments and surveillance equipment that have been installed by the IAEA After an earth-quake rocked the Niigata and Nagano districts of Ja-pan in July, 2007, IAEA personnel investigated and confirmed the safe performance of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant
The IAEA is actively involved in the development and utilization of uranium resources for use in the safe production of nuclear energy Through its educa-tion programs, the IAEA helps those involved in the uranium industry share the best known practices so that people and the environment are protected The agency monitors uranium mining projects that boost the world’s uranium production capacity and add to the global uranium resource base
The IAEA is committed to protecting global water resources and assuring an adequate supply of ground-water worldwide The agency works jointly with UN-Water to ensure that nuclear technology is employed
in strategic planning and development of water re-sources It uses isotope hydrology and ground pene-trating radar to help countries monitor and manage their water resources
In February, 2009, in Monaco, members of the Ma-rine Environment Laboratory of the IAEA met with
150 experts and discussed actions that need to be taken to halt increasing levels of acidity in the oceans worldwide The main culprit is increasing levels of bon dioxide that combine with water to form car-bonic acid The IAEA encourages alternative forms of energy production that will help reduce carbon diox-ide emissions
Alvin K Benson
Web Site International Atomic Energy Agency http://www.iaea.org/
See also: Atomic Energy Acts; Atomic Energy Com-mission; Energy politics; Nuclear energy; Nuclear En-ergy Institute; Renewable and nonrenewable re-sources; Uranium
Trang 4International Union for
Conservation of Nature
Category: Organizations, agencies, and programs
Date: Established 1948
The International Union for Conservation of Nature,
also known as the World Conservation Union, plays a
major role in developing and implementing
conserva-tion treaties, convenconserva-tions, and agreements.
Background
The founding of the International Union for
Conser-vation of Nature (IUCN), a nongovernmental
organi-zation, was an integral aspect of the postwar evolution
of international environmental politics IUCN was
es-tablished as the International Union for the
Protec-tion of Nature (IUPN) The IUCN has a federative
structure with four categories of membership: states,
governmental agencies, and national and
interna-tional nongovernmental organizations There are also
nonvoting affiliates as well as nonvoting individual
and organizational supporters The IUCN does its
work through a number of specialized commissions
and committees The union is headquartered in
Gland, Switzerland In addition, the IUCN has
re-gional offices in Africa, Central America, Asia, and
the Middle East IUCN reports on its activities in the
IUCN Bulletin, and it publishes reports and books on
conservation issues The organization is popularly
known as the World Conservation Union
Impact on Resource Use
The IUPN’s intended focus was the preservation of
wildlife and the natural environment; education;
sci-entific research; legislation; and the collection,
analy-sis, and dissemination of data and information Over
several years, the IUPN’s agenda broadened from a
fo-cus on wildlife protection to include the protection of
renewable resources This larger scope was reflected
in its name change
Marian A L Miller
Web Site
International Union for Conservation of
Nature
http://www.iucn.org/
See also: Conservation; Environmental movement; Natural Resources Defense Council; Renewable and nonrenewable resources; United Nations Environ-ment Programme; Wildlife
Iodine
Category: Mineral and other nonliving resources
Where Found Iodine is widely distributed at a low concentration However, only in brines and caliche ores is the con-centration sufficient to make separation practical The largest producers of iodine are Chile, followed by Japan, China, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan, In-donesia, and Uzbekistan
Primary Uses Iodine is used primarily in animal feed supplements, catalysts, inks, colorants, photographic equipment, and disinfectants An important use is in iodized salt, which prevents goiter
Technical Definition Iodine (abbreviated I), atomic number 53, belongs to Group VII (the halogens) of the periodic table of the elements and resembles chlorine in its chemical prop-erties One stable isotope exists with an atomic weight
of 126.9045 At room temperature, iodine is a purple-black color with a metallic sheen Its elemental form is diatomic (two atoms of iodine bonded together) The solid has a density of 4.942 grams per cubic centime-ter and sublimes easily The melting point of iodine is 113.7° Celsius, and the boiling point is 184.5° Celsius
Description, Distribution, and Forms Iodine is the sixtieth element in order of abundance,
at 0.46 part per million in the Earth’s crust Com-mercial deposits are usually iodates such as lautarite Ca(IO3)2 and dietzeite 7Ca(IO3)2C8CaCrO4 Some brines in Louisiana, California, and Michigan contain
30 to 40 parts per million iodide ion, while some Japa-nese brines contain 100 parts per million Iodine is only 0.05 part per million in seawater, but some sea plants concentrate iodine up to 0.45 percent (4,500 parts per million) of their dry weight
Iodine is a necessary trace element in animals An iodine deficiency may cause a range of problems,
Trang 5cluding goiter, mental retardation, increased
still-births and miscarriages, and the severe mental
and physical handicaps of cretinism Common
ta-ble salt (“iodized” salt) contains iodine at a 0.01
percent level, which is enough to safely prevent
these ailments Iodine is used in the body to
pro-duce the growth-regulating hormone thyroxine
An excess of iodine may lead to thyroid cancer or
interfere with hormone production Although
throughout history, iodine shortage has normally
been the problem, the use of iodine in animal
feed, sanitizers, and food processing causes
Ameri-cans to consume many times the recommended
daily allowance of iodine The effects of this are
not truly known, but it may prove to be unhealthy
Iodine is highly toxic to plants and does not
ap-pear to be necessary for plant life
History
In 1811, Bernard Courtois, the son of a saltpeter
manufacturer, first noticed iodine while
extract-ing compounds from the ash of algae gathered
along the seashore He observed a cloud of violet
vapor and an irritating odor Courtois tested the
dark crystals that formed on cold objects as well as
he could in his simple laboratory Because he
sus-pected that this was a new element, he provided
samples to two of his friends, Charles-Bernard
Desormes and Nicolas Clément at the Conservatoire
des Arts et des Métiers With better equipment, they
continued the investigation of this new substance and
announced the discovery of iodine in 1813 The name
comes from the Greek word iodes, for “violetlike.” The
first iodine-containing mineral was found in Mexico
in 1825 The discovery of iodate as a contaminant of
the Chile saltpeter beds was an even more important
discovery
Obtaining Iodine
The method of iodine production depends on the
source of the iodine From the Chilean saltpeter beds,
the sodium iodate is dissolved by an alkaline solution,
converted to iodide ion by reaction with sodium
hy-drogen sulfite, and iodine is then precipitated by
add-ing iodate solution From brines, the iodide ion is
con-verted to iodine by reaction with chlorine Air blowing
through the solution collects the iodine, which then
precipitates Purification is by resublimation In an
alternate method the iodide ion is precipitated with
silver ion, reacted with iron to make iron iodide, and
reacted with chlorine to produce iodine Another method uses an ion-exchange resin to collect the io-dine after it has reacted with chlorine The annual production of iodine is about 25,000 metric tons
Uses of Iodine Iodine has a multitude of small-percentage usages It
is difficult to track percentages of iodine devoted to specific consumer end uses, because many intermedi-ate iodine compounds—such as ethyl and methyl io-dide, crude iodine, potassium ioio-dide, sodium ioio-dide, povidine-iodine, and ethylenediamine dihydroio-dide—are marketed to manufacturers before end-use patterns can be established
Iodine is used in catalysts for synthetic rubber man-ufacture, stabilizers, dyestuffs, pigments, sanitizers, pharmaceuticals, lithium-iodine batteries, high-purity metals, motor fuels, lubricants, and photographic chemicals for high-speed negatives (a declining use with the advent of digital cameras and other digital-imaging systems) An alcohol solution of iodine called tincture of iodine is a well-known antiseptic A
Summaries, 2009
Data from the U.S Geological Survey,
U.S Government Printing Office, 2009.
Unspecified organic compounds 45%
Crude iodine 13%
Potassium iodide 10%
Sodium iodide 9%
Povidine-iodine 7%
Ethylenediamine dihydroiodide 4%
Other 12%
U.S End Uses of Iodine
Trang 6ble use may be in trifluoromethyl iodide (CF3I) as a
re-placement for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as
refrig-erants The trifluoromethyl iodide does not cause the
damage to the ozone layer that the CFCs do
Radioactive iodine, either I-123 or I-131, can be
used to treat thyroid disease, including cancer, or as a
contrast agent in generating medical images,
particu-larly of the thyroid Iodine can also be used as a
con-trast agent in producing X rays of soft tissue such as the
gallbladder Uses of iodine will continue to develop,
as it is a reactive element that forms compounds with
every group of elements except the noble gases
Global consumption for health and sanitation—to
combat diseases caused by iodine deficiencies and to
treat water, for example—is on the rise, as is the use of
iodine in compounds designed to take the place of
ozone-depleting CFCs
C Alton Hassell
Further Reading
Fernandez, Renate Lellep A Simple Matter of Salt: An
Ethnography of Nutritional Deficiency in Spain
Berke-ley: University of California Press, 1990
Greenwood, N N., and A Earnshaw “The Halogens:
Fluorine, Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, and
Asta-tine.” In Chemistry of the Elements 2d ed Boston:
Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997
Hetzel, Basil S The Story of Iodine Deficiency: An
Interna-tional Challenge in Nutrition New York: Oxford
Uni-versity Press, 1989
Kogel, Jessica Elzea, et al., eds “Iodine.” In Industrial
Minerals and Rocks: Commodities, Markets, and Uses.
7th ed Littleton, Colo.: Society for Mining,
Metal-lurgy, and Exploration, 2006
Massey, A G “Group 17: The Halogens: Fluorine,
Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine, and Astatine.” In Main
Group Chemistry 2d ed New York: Wiley, 2000.
Mertz, Walter, ed Trace Elements in Human and Animal
Nutrition 5th ed 2 vols Orlando, Fla.: Academic
Press, 1986-1987
Web Site
U.S Geological Survey
Iodine: Statistics and Information
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/
commodity/iodine
See also: Agricultural products; Lithium; Ozone layer
and ozone hole debate; Rubber, synthetic
Iran
Categories: Countries; government and resources
In 2007, Iran produced more than 4 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil (about 5.4 percent of global output) and 1.0 percent of the world’s output of cement and fluorspar Iran was also the fourth largest pro-ducer of natural gas in the world The country ex-ported 2.4 million bbl/d of oil, making it the world’s fourth largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia, Rus-sia, and Norway In 2003, steel, aluminum, and re-fined copper were minor but noteworthy exports for Iran In 2007, 2.9 million metric tons of agricultural products were exported.
The Country Slightly larger than the state of Alaska, Iran is a theo-cratic Islamic republic located in the Middle East It is bordered by the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, and the nations of Afghanistan, Arme-nia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmen-istan Iran’s terrain comprises a rugged, mountainous rim; a high, central basin with deserts; and small coastal plains Iran had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $8.4 billion in 2008 Its economy was ranked seventeenth in the world by the International Mone-tary Fund in 2008, with a projected growth of 6.2 per-cent for 2009 The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) re-ported that for Iranian fiscal year 2007, industry contributed 45.3 percent and services contributed 43.7 percent to Iran’s GDP
Politically, the 2009 presidential elections in Iran pointed to the social turmoil in that nation, as thou-sands demonstrated against a perception of corrup-tion in the vote count Iran is home to a populacorrup-tion dominated by younger persons, many of whom did not experience prerevolutionary secular society un-der Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was ousted in
1979 A study in contrasts—with an autocratic, oligar-chic, fundamentalist government ruling over a so-phisticated, talented populace, many of whose youn-ger members (through access to cell phones, the Internet, and higher education) are more globally oriented than their parents and whose women are be-ginning to militate against social repression—Iranian society is in flux, and its economy and resources could
be expected to come under the influence of these conditions
Trang 7624 • Iran Global Resources
Iran: Resources at a Glance
Official name: Islamic Republic of Iran Government: Theocratic republic Capital city: Tehran
Area: 636,418 mi2; 1,648,195 km2
Population (2009 est.): 66,429,284 Language: Persian
Monetary unit: Iranian rial (IRR)
Economic summary:
GDP composition by sector (2008 est.): agriculture, 10.2%; industry, 41.9%; services, 47.8%
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, zinc, sulfur, fluorspar Land use (2005): arable land, 9.78%; permanent crops, 1.29%; other, 88.93%
Industries: petroleum, petrochemicals, fertilizers, caustic soda, textiles, cement and other construction materials,
food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), ferrous and nonferrous metal
fabrication, armaments
Agricultural products: wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, sugarcane, fruits, nuts, cotton, dairy products, wool,
caviar
Exports (2008 est.): $95.09 billion
Commodities exported: petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, fruits and nuts, carpets
Imports (2008 est.): $67.25 billion
Commodities imported: industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other
consumer goods, technical services
Labor force (2008 est.): 24.35 million (shortage of skilled labor)
Labor force by occupation (2007): agriculture, 25%; industry, 31%; services, 45%
Energy resources:
Electricity production (2006 est.): 193 billion kWh
Electricity consumption (2006 est.): 145 billion kWh
Electricity exports (2006 est.): 2.775 billion kWh
Electricity imports (2006 est.): 2.54 billion kWh
Natural gas production (2007 est.): 111.9 billion m3
Natural gas consumption (2007 est.): 111.8 billion m3
Natural gas exports (2007 est.): 6.2 billion m3
Natural gas imports (2007 est.): 6.1 billion m3
Natural gas proved reserves ( Jan 2008 est.): 26.85 trillion m3
Oil production (2007 est.): 4.7 million bbl/day Oil imports (2007): 210,000 bbl/day
Oil proved reserves ( Jan 2008 est.): 136.2 billion bbl (based on Iranian claims)
Source: Data from The World Factbook 2009 Washington, D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency, 2009.
Notes: Data are the most recent tracked by the CIA Values are given in U.S dollars Abbreviations: bbl/day = barrels per day;
GDP = gross domestic product; km 2 = square kilometers; kWh = kilowatt-hours; m 3 = cubic meters; mi 2 = square miles.
Tehran Turkey
Armenia Azerbaijan
Kuwait
Qatar United Arab
Emirates
Iraq
Iran
Saudi
Arabia
Afghanistan Turkmenistan
Pakistan
Caspian Sea
Persian Gulf
Trang 8Oil, natural gas, and coal are composed of
com-pounds containing both carbon and hydrogen—
hence the term “hydrocarbons.” Iran’s hydrocarbon
sector is overseen by its ministry of petroleum; the
state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is
responsible for oil and natural gas production and
ex-ploration In 2007, hydrocarbons accounted for 82
percent of Iran’s total exports, valued at $72.7 billion,
an increase of more than 25 percent over 2006 Crude
oil exports accounted for most of the hydrocarbon
ex-ports, and natural gas and refined petroleum made up
the remainder For most of 2008, Iran produced
ap-proximately 3.8 million bbl/d of crude oil In March,
2009, Iran, along with other members of the
Organi-zation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),
cut its oil production quotas to bolster falling oil
prices on the world market; Iran’s production quota
was lowered to 3.6 million bbl/d Iran is OPEC’s
sec-ond largest producer and exporter of oil after Saudi
Arabia More than 60 percent of Iranian oil was
ex-ported in 2007
Production and distribution of natural gas and oil,
and the refining of crude oil, accounted for 10
per-cent of Iran’s GDP Of the hydrocarbon liquids
pro-duced by Iran, one-half of the crude oil was exported
to China, India, and Japan; the remainder was
con-sumed domestically Most hydrocarbon-sector
pro-ducers are required by Iranian law to satisfy domestic
demand before exporting their output As of 2009,
Iran held proven oil reserves totaling 136.2 billion
barrels and natural gas reserves of nearly 29 trillion
cubic meters, the third and second largest proven
stocks in the world, respectively In 2007, Iran’s
pro-duction of natural gas totaled more than 111 trillion
cubic meters, which equaled its domestic
consump-tion
Production of coal in Iran equaled domestic
con-sumption, and there were no exports of coal in
2007-2008, although Iran planned to increase production
of coal to 4.5 million metric tons in 2012 (up from 1.8
million metric tons in 2008) In 2006, primary energy
production for Iran totaled 13.1 quadrillion British
thermal units (Btu), while consumption totaled 7.7
quadrillion Btu, the latter comprising natural gas (53
percent), oil (44 percent), hydroelectric (2 percent),
and coal (1 percent) Natural gas accounts for
one-half of Iran’s total domestic energy consumption; the
other half is oil Domestic demand for electricity was
expected to grow by 7-9 percent
Domestic demand for crude oil and natural gas is expected to increase, which may necessitate that Iran limit its hydrocarbon exports in order to meet domes-tic demand Development of identified natural gas and oil resources was expected to continue, as was construction and renovation of oil refineries These changes were subject to funding constraints and limi-tations imposed by the U.S embargo on Iranian hy-drocarbon goods and services because of Iran’s nu-clear development program According to the U.S Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Americans may not trade, finance,
or facilitate any goods, services, or technology to or from Iran that might benefit the Iranian oil industry
In 2009, U.S president Barack Obama extended the U.S sanctions against Iran for an additional year Crude Oil While Iran produced 6 million bbl/d
of crude oil in 1974, it has not been able to attain that level of production since the Islamic Revolution of
1979 The Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988), lack of foreign investors, economic sanctions, and the natural de-cline of mature oil fields have resulted in a production deficit of 400,000-700,000 bbl/d According to the National Academy of Sciences, if this rate of decline continues, Iran’s exports of oil could approach zero
by 2015 unless measures are taken to restore the oil-producing infrastructure Moreover, Iran has hoped
to increase oil production to 5 million bbl/d provided
it can secure foreign investments In the past, Iran partnered with Venezuela and Russia In 2007, Iran’s oil exports reached 2.4 million bbl/d, with export rev-enues of $57 billion, accounting for one-third of the country’s total revenues and 85 percent of its total earnings from exports As of January, 2009, Iran had
10 percent of the world’s total proven petroleum re-serves, with the majority of crude oil reserves located
in Khnzest3n near the Iraqi border In addition, Iran has an extensive domestic oil network, including five pipelines with many international projects under way
It has invested in its import capacity at the Caspian Sea port to handle increased product shipments from Russia and Azerbaijan and to enable crude oil swaps with its northern neighbors, Turkmenistan and Ka-zakhstan Oil from the Caspian Sea in the north is con-sumed domestically, and an equal amount is pro-duced for export through the Persian Gulf in the south Iran has the largest oil tanker fleet in the Mid-dle East
Gasoline In 2007, Iran consumed 1.7 million bbl/d of oil and 400,000 bbl/d of gasoline Because
Trang 9Iran’s production of refined oil products is sparse, it
has to import most of its gasoline and spends $6
mil-lion a year on imports In 2008, gasoline rationing
de-creased the need for imports by 40 percent However,
the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution
Company (NIORDC) aims to raise production levels
at Iran’s oil refineries, while reducing the sulfur
con-tent of its diesel fuel Iran’s crude oil is of “medium”
sulfur content; “high” sulfur content produces high
levels of greenhouse-gas emissions, while “low” sulfur
content is associated with lower emissions The
Inter-national Energy Agency (IEA) predicted a 5.3 percent
growth in Iranian domestic demand for gasoline in
2009, with demand for other refined oil products
decreasing The majority of Iran’s motorists are per-mitted rations of 121 liters of gasoline per month, and gasoline costs about $1.44 per liter However, the elimination of gasoline subsidies and the fruition of government-sponsored projects to increase produc-tion might transform Iran into a gasoline exporter Natural Gas Colorless and odorless, natural gas
is a typical mix of hydrocarbon gases, 70-90 percent methane (CH4) Unlike other fossil fuels, natural gas burns “clean,” emitting lower levels of greenhouse gases Iran’s extensive system of pipelines transports refined natural gas to domestic and international destinations In 2007, 30 percent of Iran’s natural gas output was used to enhance oil recovery through gas reinjection Domestic production of natural gas equals domestic consumption, and both have rapidly increased: In 2007, production of natural gas totaled nearly 112 billion cubic meters Domestic consump-tion of natural gas is heavily subsidized by the govern-ment Despite Iran’s plans to expand production of its most important energy project, the offshore South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf, increasing domestic demand keeps natural gas exports at a mini-mum Therefore, most of the South Pars output will
be used to meet domestic needs and for production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is easier to trans-port and store than regular natural gas Iran’s LNG projects are second only to those of neighboring Qa-tar, with exports possibly reaching 1,462 billion cubic feet (Bcf) Even with the threat of economic sanctions
by the United Nations, Iran had three LNG plants and gas pipelines to Armenia, Europe, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates either in the planning stage or under construction
Mining and Metals Iran’s Ministry of Industries and Mines oversees all mining, smelting, and refining industries, excepting the oil and gas sectors In the 1970’s, the Iran Geologi-cal Society began surveys to assess the value of Iranian mineral deposits and uncovered substantial reserves
of iron ore, deposits of uranium, and other minerals
in 1986 While most of Iran’s active mines are privately owned, the government controls many of the larger commodity enterprises, especially those that produce aluminum, ammonia, coal, iron, and steel In 2007, the Iranian government privatized a considerable percentage of its equity interests in enterprises that produce copper, steel, and aluminum However, in-ternational funding for development of such projects
A fuel-manufacturing plant in central Iran (AFP/Getty Images)
Trang 10was put aside because of the threat of U.N sanctions
related to Iran’s nuclear development program,
in-cluding the nuclear-fueled, electricity-generating
re-actor at Bnshehr in western Iran
In 2009, Iranian president Mahmoud
Ahmadin-ejad inaugurated Iran’s first nuclear fuel plan, while
iterating the country’s stance that its nuclear
endeav-ors were solely for civilian purposes That same year,
Iran launched a rocket with a capability of reaching
nearby countries Iran has ample supplies of both
ura-nium and fluorspar Also in 2009, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran had
increased its production of low-grade enriched
ura-nium, raising its stockpile to 1,339 kilograms
Copper (Cu), atomic number 29, is found mostly
as ores of oxygen (O), iron (Fe), and sulfur (S)
Cop-per’s physical properties, abundance, and availability
through low-cost bulk mining make the mineral a
val-ued Iranian commodity However, while Iranian
cop-per deposits are among the world’s largest, with
re-serves in Kerm3n Province in southeastern Iran, Iran
is not one of the world’s leading producers Prior to
the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iran had planned to
develop the copper industry in order to replace oil as
a source of foreign exchange However, the Iraq-Iran
War and slumping copper prices discouraged
devel-opment of the sector Nonetheless, the Iranian
gov-ernment continued to promote private sector
invest-ment, which may have added to Iran’s copper output
in the 1980’s Iranian production of copper
concen-trate grew by 62.5 percent from 2002 to 2007 In 2007,
the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries
Develop-ment and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO)
an-nounced that Iran’s copper mining industry had been
mostly privatized, with output for the year standing
at 200,000 metric tons Iran expected to produce
250,000 metric tons of copper in the fiscal year ending
in March, 2009, and to boost annual output by 64
per-cent through 2012
Iron (Fe), atomic number 26, is a highly reactive,
metallic element that oxidizes readily Principle iron
ores include hematite (70 percent iron), magnetite
(72 percent iron), and taconite, which contains both
magnetite and hematite Chromite (ferrous chromic
oxide, FeCr2O4), which also contains iron, is the only
known ore of chromium, atomic number 24 Both
iron ore and chromite are plentiful global resources
Iran has total chromite reserves of 18 to 27 million
metric tons From 2002 to 2007, chromite output in
Iran decreased by 56 percent
In 2007, IMIDRO reported that Iranian iron ore re-serves and resources—mainly found at Chadormalu, near Gol-e-Gohar, and Sangan—totaled 1.2 billion metric tons Iron ore production grew in Iran by about 37.5 percent from 2002 to 2007 Iranian iron ore and chromite are used mainly in the production
of steel; from 2002 to 2006, Iranian production of steel, pig iron, ingots, and castings grew by 25 percent
By 2012, the predicted addition of 29 million metric tons per year of new crude steel capacity would in-crease Iran’s total capacity fourfold to about 40 mil-lion metric tons per year Because most of these crude steel “capacity” projects are to use electric arc fur-naces, Iran’s industrial demand for electricity is ex-pected to increase
Agriculture Beginning in 1979 commercial farming replaced sub-sistence farming as the major source of agricultural production In 1997, the gross value of products in Iran’s agricultural industry was an estimated $25 bil-lion, and in 2003, almost 25 percent of Iran’s exports (excluding oil and petrochemicals) were related to agricultural products and services According to the CBI, Iran’s exports of agricultural products had a total value of $3.2 billion in 2007 About 20 percent of Iran’s land is arable, and one-third of Iran’s arable land is irrigated via reservoirs and dams alongside rivers in the Alborz and Zagros mountains
As of 2009, there were twenty-two thousand Iranian
“food industries units.” Iran’s main food-producing areas are found near the Caspian Sea and the valleys
of northwest Iran Major agricultural exports include fruits (fresh and dried), spices, nuts, and processed food; fruits and nuts accounted for 2 percent of Iran’s exports in 2008 Iran is the world’s largest producer of saffron and pistachio nuts Iran’s livestock products include lamb, goat meat, beef, poultry and eggs, and dairy as well as wool and leather
According to the CBI, Iran’s agriculture sector (ex-cluding wheat) greatly improved in 2008 Agricultural production totaled 98 million metric tons, 20 percent higher than in 2007, employing 33.3 percent of the la-bor force Over a three-year period ending in 2007, the agricultural, horticultural, and livestock-process-ing sectors showed increaslivestock-process-ingly positive gains despite
a severe drought in Iran throughout 2007 The value added in the agriculture sector increased to 6.2 per-cent, 1.5 percent higher than in 2006 During the same period, total agricultural and horticultural