China ramped up its buying of cheap Iranian crude last month after independent refiners were granted additional import quotas for 2021. The nation imported almost 18 million barrels in November, equivalent to about 600,000 barrels a day, according to market intelligence firm Kpler. -Bloomberg 12/17/21

Iran plans to invest $11 billion in its offshore fields to raise gas production capacity by 240 million cu m/d, oil ministry news service Shana reported Nov. 11, adding roughly 25% to its current output as the country tries to meet growing domestic demand. -S&P Global 11/12/21

China's imports of Iranian oil have held above half a million barrels per day on average for the last three months, traders and ship-tracking firms said, as buyers judge that getting crude at cheap prices outweighs any risks from busting U.S. sanctions. Chinese purchases of Iranian crude have continued this year despite the sanctions that, if enforced, would allow Washington to cut off those who violate them from the U.S. economy. -Reuters 11/10/21

Iran's LPG shipments are set to reach around 440,000-450,000 mt in October compared with 556,000 mt exported in September, largely to Asia, and are expected to rebound in November. Iran's LPG exports were hovering near two-year highs at around 500,000 mt/month since July-August and rose further in September. -S&P Global 10/15/21

"Iran is ready to resolve the ongoing fuel crisis in the world and make up for the shortages," declared Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji. To that end, he said, the United States ought to lift onerous sanctions that have targeted the Islamic Republic's vital oil industry. Owji made the comments following a virtual meeting of OPEC. His statement referenced fuel shortages, which have hit the United Kingdom particularly hard in recent weeks amid soaring prices and long queues at petrol stations across the country. -Al Monitor 10/6/21

Venezuela has agreed to a key contract to swap its heavy oil for Iranian condensate that it can use to improve the quality of its tar-like crude, with the first cargoes due this week, five people close to the deal said. The deal could be a breach of U.S. sanctions on both nations, according to a Treasury Department email to Reuters which cited U.S. government orders that establish the punitive measures. -Reuters 9/27/21

Iranian fuel and petrochemical exports have boomed in recent years despite stringent US sanctions, leaving Iran well placed to expand sales swiftly in Asia and Europe if Washington lifts its curbs, Reuters reported trading sources and officials saying. The United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran's oil and gas industry in 2018 to choke off the Islamic Republic's main source of revenues after then American President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. -MEMO 9/17/21

Goreh-Jask pipeline project provides Iran with an alternative route for the country's crude oil exports that are currently carried out through the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline will open a new gate for Iranian oil to the Indian Ocean by transferring it from Goreh in southwestern Bushehr Province to Jask on the shores of Oman Gulf. -Ebrahim Fallahi, Tehran Times 7/27/21

Outgoing President Hassan Rouhani has said Iran opened its first oil terminal in the Gulf of Oman, a move that will allow it to avoid using the Strait of Hormuz shipping route that has been a focus of regional tension for decades. "This is a strategic move and an important step for Iran. It will secure the continuation of our oil exports," Rouhani said in a televised speech on Thursday. -Al Jazeera 7/22/21

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani apologised Wednesday for sweeping blackouts, blaming a searing drought he said had sharply driven up demand and virtually halted hydroelectric power generation. Since last week, Tehran and Iran's other major cities have experienced frequent power outages that authorities say may continue until late July. -AFP 7/8/21

Iran's outgoing president offered a rare apology Tuesday for the country's most severe summer power outages in recent memory, as blackouts cripple businesses and darken homes for hours a day. In a government meeting broadcast live on state TV, President Hassan Rouhani acknowledged that chronic power outages over the past week have caused Iranians "plenty of pain" and expressed contrition in an unusually personal speech. -AP 7/6/21

Iran's only nuclear power plant has been brought back online, its manager said early Monday, after two weeks off-grid amid a power shortage and rolling blackouts across the Islamic republic. The Bushehr plant's shutdown was initially blamed on a "technical fault" that required repairs followed by conflicting reports that it was a regular maintenance operation. -AFP 7/5/21

Iran halted its crucial supply of power to Iraq, fueling fears of protests Tuesday amid instability following the resignation of Iraq's electricity minister. Cash-strapped Iran has put pressure on Iraq's government to release payments for power after falling into arrears. The development comes with months of scorching summer temperatures still to come, and ahead of much anticipated federal elections. -AP 6/30/21

Iran's sole nuclear power plant has undergone an unexplained temporary emergency shutdown, the country's state TV reported. An official from the state electric company Tavanir, Gholamali Rakhshanimehr, said on a talk show that aired on Sunday that the Bushehr plant shutdown began on Saturday and would last "for three to four days." Without elaborating, he said that power outages could result. -France24 6/21/21

A massive fire that broke out at an oil refinery near Iran's capital and sent a huge plume of black smoke into the sky over Tehran was extinguished on Thursday, after more than 20 hours, a news agency reported. The semi-official ISNA agency quoted the country's deputy oil minister, Alireza Sadeghabadi as saying the blaze was first fully contained and then finally put out. -AP 6/4/21

Lifts and amusement park rides grinding to a halt, businesses, and employees left in the dark, hospital equipment stopping suddenly ... People around Iran have been experiencing regular power outages since the beginning of May. While the state energy distributor has tried to schedule these outages to align with energy demands, our Observers tell us that power cuts have been more frequent, and lengthier, than planned. -France24 6/3/21

The likely return of Iranian oil is setting up what promises to be an aggressive battle to supply a corner of the coveted Asian market. Iran is a major producer of condensates -- ultra-light oil that's a by-product from natural gas fields -- and South Korea is Asia's biggest operator of splitters designed to turn it into petrochemicals used to make plastics. -Bloomberg 6/3/21

Iran's oil minister said the country can increase its crude production rapidly, as world powers enter the final stages of negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic. "The next Iranian government should make it a top priority to raise oil production to 6.5 million barrels a day," Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran on Monday. Higher output will "improve the country's security and political might." -Bloomberg 5/31/21

Asian refiners equipped with condensate splitters will likely favor Iranian ultra-light crude heavily over other similar grades offered in the market when US sanctions against Tehran are lifted, as the companies expect Iranian South Pars condensate's steep price discount to boost their product margins. -S&P Global 5/26/21

Managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has announced the beginning of oil transfer operation through Goreh-Jask pipeline which is laid from Goreh oil terminal in the southwestern Bushehr Province to Jask oil terminal along the Gulf of Oman. The Goreh-Jask oil transfer project is going to provide Iran with an alternative route for the country's crude oil exports that are currently carried out through the Strait of Hormuz. 5/21/21

Iranian oil exports, which have been on a rising trend while talks make progress on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, have dropped so far in May, according to three assessments, reflecting a lull in demand from China. Tehran's oil exports have risen since late 2020, despite U.S. sanctions toughened under U.S. President Donald Trump. Joe Biden's administration took office in January pledging to rejoin Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, which Trump had quit. -Reuters 5/19/21

A flurry of talks involving the US, Iran and European nations could revive the nuclear deal and lift sanctions that had more than halved Iranian oil production, though significant obstacles remain. Iran pumped as much as 4.8 million b/d of crude and condensate before the sanctions were reimposed in 2018... -S&P Global 5/18/21

Washington geopolitical analysts increasingly expect the US and Iran to announce a deal by the end of May that will allow for the lifting of sanctions on oil, petrochemical, shipping and other key sectors as soon as the third quarter of this year. Register Now European and Asian oil buyers could start negotiating deliveries when such a deal is announced, with most likely waiting until the Biden administration removes sanctions to finalize purchases. -S&P Global 5/6/21

OPEC oil output has risen in March as higher supply from Iran countered reductions by other members under a pact with allies, a Reuters survey found, a headwind for its supply-limiting efforts if Tehran's boost is sustained. -Reuters 4/1/21

China will receive another large influx of cheap Iranian oil in March passed off as crude from other origins, curbing the top importer's appetite for crudes from other suppliers, according to traders and analysts. -Reuters 3/30/21

Iran has quietly moved record amounts of crude oil to top client China in recent months, while India's state refiners have added Iranian oil to their annual import plans on the assumption that U.S. sanctions on the OPEC supplier will soon ease, according to six industry sources and Refinitiv data. -Reuters 3/8/21

Iran's oil reserves risk becoming stranded assets unless the new U.S. administration eases sanctions that have left the country lagging rivals in output capacity and losing a race against time as the transition to low carbon energy gathers pace. Iran, which sits on the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, relies heavily on oil revenue, but sanctions have prevented it from pumping at anywhere near capacity since 2018. -Reuters 2/12/21

Emboldened by the change in US presidency, Iran is pushing more oil onto the market, even as sanctions remain in place, as it looks ahead to a full return to the global oil market as demand recovers from the pandemic. -S&P Global 2/10/21

Even with occasionally reduced oil imports, Beijing has been Tehran's lifeline to circumvent oil sanctions for years, providing a stable source of cash while nearly all countries dialed down their reliance on energy supplies from Iran. This was crucial when Iran's oil output halved to just 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020. Now, the crude-based relationship between Iran and China is stronger than ever, particularly since China is on overdrive to catch up with the United States economically, fueled by a steady stream of oil delivered from all corners of the world, including Iran. -Brendon Hong, Atlantic Council 2/10/21

In August 2019, Mike Pompeo took something of a victory lap. Speaking to MSNBC, he declared that the Trump administration had "managed to take almost 2.7 million barrels of [Iranian] crude oil off of the market."... Today it is Iran's Oil Minister Zanganeh who is taking a victory lap. He told reporters last week that Iran's oil exports are "much better than many assume," and the oil ministry has announced that it would begin ramping-up oil production. -Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Bourse & Bazaar 1/25/21

The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) says the daily amount of production and processing of natural gas in the country hit an all-time high of 840 million cubic meters (mcm), a whopping figure which the country's energy minister says is roughly more than half the amount of gas consumed in the entire Europe. -Press TV 1/7/21

India wants to diversify its oil imports, including the resumption of supplies from Iran and Venezuela, after US President-elect Joe Biden takes office, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. India was the key buyer of Iranian and Venezuelan oil before slashing purchases after President Donald Trump imposed unilateral sanctions on the two OPEC members since taking office in 2017. -Reuters 12/2/20

Oil prices have sunk back to their lowest levels since the novel coronavirus lockdown in the spring. The pandemic is still weighing on the oil market, but now there seems to be an additional factor: the increasing likelihood that former Vice President Joe Biden will be elected U.S. president and ease sanctions on Iran. -Peter Coy, Bloolmberg 11/2/20

The Trump administration is trying to fortify its campaign of maximum pressure against Iran from being reversed by a potential Biden administration. -Pranshu Verma and Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times 10/27/20

Iran's new 1000-kilometer-long Goreh-Jask oil pipeline in the southern Hormozgan province, which will provide the country with an alternative route for crude oil exports that are currently transferred through the Strait of Hormuz, has registered over 60 percent of physical progress and is underway with full force. The project, which is aimed at expanding the oil transport capacity in the south of the country to one million barrels a day, was inaugurated in late June by President Hassan Rouhani. 10/20/20

Despite all the incentive packages, there are still consumers which fall on the red side of the spectrum and somehow need to use more electricity; for this group of consumers the Energy Ministry has come up with a new scheme called "each rooftop a power plant" based on which high-consuming households or industries will be encouraged to install rooftop PV stations in order to generate their own electricity. -Ebrahim Fallahi, Tehran Times 10/15/20

Iran could restore almost 2 million barrels of oil exports daily if Joe Biden wins next month's U.S. presidential election, according to the head of the International Energy Forum. If Biden, as he's indicated, tries to revive an Iranian nuclear pact that President Donald Trump took the U.S. out of in mid-2018, negotiations between the two sides will probably lead to more output from the Islamic Republic, according to Joe McMonigle. -Bloomberg 10/8/20

The first of a group of three tankers carrying Iranian fuel for gasoline-starved Venezuela entered the waters of the South American nation on Monday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, in the most recent sign of the countries' expanding trade. The two OPEC members have increased cooperation this year by exchanging crude, fuel, food, equipment for refineries and other industrial goods. Many details about the transactions are not available. -Reuters 9/29/20

Iran's daily natural gas exports hit a record high of 79 million cubic meters (mcm) during the Iranian calendar month of Tir (June 21-July 21), Head of National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)'s Dispatching Department said. "Iran's gas exports to other countries had never reached 70 million cubic meters per day, but in Tir a new record was set and [the exports] reached 79 million cubic meters per day," Shana quoted Mohammadreza Jolaei as saying. 8/6/20

Iran signed on Monday a US$1.3-billion deal with domestic companies to double the production capacity at the massive Azadegan oilfield, expecting the rise in production to boost its oil revenues by US$1 trillion, Iranian officials said at the signing ceremony. -Oil Price 7/21/20

Iran has slashed crude oil production to its lowest level in four decades as storage tanks and vessels are almost completely full due to a fall in exports and refinery run cuts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed. -Reuters 7/7/20

Turkey is delaying the completion of repairs to the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline, which was blown up at the end of March, in an apparent attempt both to curry favor with Washington and to pressure Tehran to reduce its prices, according to industry sources. Register Now Flows through the pipeline were halted early on March 31 following an explosion. -S&P Global 5/22/20

Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempur Ardebili, is in a coma after suffering a "severe" brain hemorrhage. In a tweet on May 3, the country's Oil Ministry said Ardebili was hospitalized on May 1. It did not provide further details. Ardebili is a key figure in Iran's energy industry and served as the deputy foreign minister and deputy oil minister in the 1980s. 5/5/20

Global demand for oil will fall this year by the most ever due to the economic lockdowns enforced around the world to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. An estimated drop in demand of 9.3 million barrels a day this year is equivalent to a decade's worth of growth. -AP 4/15/20

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has called on the United States and Canada to join non-OPEC oil producers led by Russia to reduce crude production. In a tweet on Tuesday, Namdar Zanganeh said, "Before any meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC there needs to be an agreement on production numbers for any country that will reduce output", adding that the U.S. and Canada need to play a role in determining production cuts. 4/8/20

Iran's Oil Ministry is investing more than $1.5 billion on completing the national gas grid in the deprived and remote regions bordering Pakistan. Head of the National Iranian Gas Company said on Sunday that works to link up cities and towns in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan to the national gas network had made a significant progress over the past months. 12/23/19

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is offering significant discounts for a planned sell-off of crude and condensates in a local energy bourse as the government tries to use the mechanism to bypass the American sanctions imposed on direct oil exports. An NIOC agent said on Wednesday that the company will start offering price discounts and other favorable conditions to those buying oil and gas condensate, a very light type of oil, at Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX). -Press TV 12/19/19

A new report citing data from the Iranian government shows that almost a fifth of the daily production of gasoline in the country falls into the hands of smugglers who ship the fuel to the neighboring countries. The findings come days after Iran decided to increase the price of gasoline and impose restrictions on the regular delivery of the fuel to the motorists. -Press TV 11/20/19

The latest OPEC monthly report published November 14 says that not only Iran's oil production fell in the first ten months of 2019, but also the price of the most exported type of Iranian oil fell. Iran's oil production in October decreased by 18,000 barrels, reaching 2,146,000 barrels per day. Iran was producing 3.8 million bpd before the United States imposed sanctions in November 2018. -Radio Farda 11/15/19

The Namavaran oil field discovered by Iranian experts has an estimated 53 billion barrels of reserves, Zangeneh said on Monday. Iran's largest oil field contains 65 billion barrels and is located in in Ahvaz. According to Zangeneh, exploration started at the site in 2016, with 31 billion barrels previously discovered. The newly-discovered field adds 22.2 billion barrels to the country's estimated crude reserves. -Press TV 11/11/19

Iran's oil minister said Sunday that China's CNPC has withdrawn from the development of an offshore gas field and that state-owned Petropars will take over the entire project. The South Pars gas field was to be developed jointly by France's Total, China National Petroleum Corporation and Petropars under a $4.8-billion (4.1 billion-euro) deal signed in July 2017. -VOA 10/7/19

Dozens of crewmembers have been rescued after two tankers transporting petroleum products were reportedly attacked and caught fire in the Gulf of Oman. The June 13 incidents come a month after attacks on four tankers off the nearby United Arab Emirates increased tensions between Tehran and Washington and U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf. 6/13/19

The US envoy to Baghdad says Washington has exempted Baghdad from some of its unilateral anti-Iran sanctions, allowing Iraq to continue importing energy from Iran. US charge d'affaires Joey Hood told reporters on Wednesday Baghdad can now buy energy from Iran, a report by Al-Alam news network said. The waiver will allow Iraq to continue buying gas and electricity from Iran. -Press TV 5/23/19

The 24th Iran International, Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition (Iran Oil Show 2019), which kicked off at Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds on Wednesday, is hosting 106 foreign exhibitors from 21 countries, Shana reported. 5/2/19

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to end waivers from sanctions for countries importing Iranian oil threatens to further escalate tensions with Turkey. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu slammed Washington's latest move. "We support an international system and multilateralism established through legal rules. The fact that a country alone disrupts this and puts pressure on everyone to comply with its decisions is damaging and jeopardizing the international legal system," Cavusoglu said at a press conference Tuesday. -Dorian Jones, VOA 4/24/19

Iranian exports of crude oil and condensate have surged to levels near before sanctions, surprising market observers and affording the country an important victory in a US "economic war" on Tehran. Iran exported 1.70 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in March, the highest since October when shipments fell to 1.08 million bpd, data from shipping sources compiled by S&P Global Platts showed. -Press TV 4/10/19

The speaker of Iraq's parliament wants the United States to extend a waiver that allows it to buy electricity from Iran for at least three years, saying it will take that long before the oil-rich country can manage on its own. "Hopefully, this waiver will be extended until Iraq can stand on its feet economically," speaker Muhammad al-Halbusi said on March 29 at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. 3/31/19

Iran is increasing its natural gas exports to a number of countries, including Turkey which plans to raise imports from its energy-rich neighbor, a senior official says. "Based on previous agreements, Iran is currently increasing gas exports to a number of countries including Turkey, Iraq, Armenia and Azerbaijan," head of the National Iranian Gas Company Hassan Montazer Torbati told IRNA. -PRESS TV 3/26/19

The United States is extending a waiver to allow Iraq to continue to buy electricity from Iran, despite sanctions imposed by Washington targeting Tehran's energy sector. The original waiver, issued in December 2017, expired on March 19. -RFE/RL 3/20/19

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has inaugurated four new phases of the huge offshore South Pars gas field in a move, which has been seen as a clear sign of the failure of US sanctions against the country. During an inaugural ceremony in the southern coastal city of Kangan on Sunday, Iran's president officially launched phases 13, 22, 23, and 24 of South Pars gas field, noting that despite all the US pressures on the Iranian nation, especially through the imposition of unilateral economic sanctions, Iranians remain steadfast and resistant and continue to progress. 3/17/19

Reuters on March 13 quoted two sources familiar with the matter in its report, quoting one as saying the "goal right now is to reduce Iranian oil exports to under 1 million barrels per day." The source added that the administration of President Donald Trump was concerned that if it pushed for a complete and immediate shutdown of Iran oil purchases, it would cause a large rise in prices on the world market. -RFE/RL 3/14/19

At least four people were killed on Thursday in an explosion of the pipelines that link the gas network from Mahshahr city to Ahvaz city in southwestern Iran, a senior provincial official said. A bus, a water tanker truck and a private car had also caught fire amid the explosion. -MNA 3/14/19

Iran on Sunday will launch four new development phases of the world's largest gas field at South Pars with a capacity to produce 112 million cubic meters per day, the Ministry of Petroleum says. President Hassan Rouhani will travel to Bushehr in the Persian Gulf to inaugurate two refineries built with $10 billion of investment. With their launch, Iran's daily gas production will surpass that of Qatar with which it shares the offshore field. -Press TV 3/13/19

Saudi plans to become a major gas exporter within a decade raise questions about what the real goal of the kingdom's policy, and by extension that of the United States, is towards Iran. Officially both Saudi Arabia and the US, which last year withdrew from the 2015 international accord that curbs the Islamic republic's nuclear program and imposed harsh economic sanctions, are demanding a change of Iran's regional and defense policies rather than of its regime... -James M. Dorsey 2/28/19

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani put 40 major development projects worth 60 trillion rials (about $1.428 billion) into operation in the southern province of Hormozgan on Sunday and Monday. The president also inaugurated the third phase of Persian Gulf Star Refinery in a ceremony on Monday participated by Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. -Tehran Times 2/19/19

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in an announcement put Iran's reserves of recoverable liquid hydrocarbons at an estimated amount of 160.12 billion barrels, while its natural gas reserves stand at 33.33 trillion cubic meters. This makes Iran one of the world's largest holders of crude oil, condensate and gas liquids reserves on the planet. 2/6/19

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tuesday Italy and Greece had stopped buying oil from Iran despite being granted waivers from US sanctions. "Among the Europeans, except for Turkey, no other nation has purchased oil from Iran. Greece and Italy refuse to buy Iran's oil despite winning waivers. And they don't respond to our correspondence," said the oil minister at a press conference on Tuesday. 2/5/19

Iran's Vice-President Mohammad Baqer Nobakht says Tehran is facing "serious problems in exporting oil" as a result of "brutal sanctions." Speaking in the south-eastern province of Kerman on Friday January 18, Nobakht said Iran is "too far away from the target of exporting 2,410,000 barrels per day planned in the country's budget," which should have brought $47 billion in revenues. -Radio Farda 1/19/19

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has decided to continue investing in two major Iranian oilfields but suspend investment in the South Pars natural gas project, Reuters claimed on Wednesday. CNPC convinced the US to continue investing in the North Azadegan and Masjid-i-Suleiman (MIS) oilfields, the news agency quoted two unidentified Chinese sources as saying. -Press TV 12/12/18

Despite the ongoing U.S. sanctions on Iran, India continues to be one of the chief importers of Iranian oil. Indeed, the state owned petrochemical corporation Indian Oil is set to import up to 9 million barrels of Iranian oil in December. That is more than 20 percent of current Iranian oil exports. -Radio Farda 12/5/18

President Hassan Rouhani has reaffirmed that the United States will not be able to stop Iran's oil sales, warning that no crude will find its way out of the Persian Gulf should Washington attempt to target Iranian crude exports. 12/4/18

At first glance, it seems that rising oil prices (33 percent growth in 2018) and low production costs can still generate petrodollars for Iran, even though its exports have declined by 40 percent to around 1.5 million barrels per day (mb/d) since the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear deal and announced the reimposition of sanctions in May. -Radio Farda 11/8/18

Iran's substantial natural gas reserves provide Russia with a significant strategic opportunity to solidify its role in the international arena. Although US secondary sanctions against Iran's petroleum sector resumed on November 5, Russia will most likely defy them by continuing to invest in Iran's natural gas sector. -Atlantic Council 11/5/18

The United States says it plans to issue temporary waivers to several countries, allowing them to continue purchasing Iranian oil without being subject to forthcoming U.S. sanctions. Sanctions on Iran are expected to be reinstated Monday, the result of U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal earlier this year from the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers. Any country importing Iranian oil that does not receive a waiver will be subject to U.S. financial penalties. -William Gallo, VOA 11/3/18

With spending $45.1 billion on fossil energy consumption subsidies in 2017, Iran ranked first globally, International Energy Agency reported Oct.29. The value, which increased 55% year-on-year, equals to 10.4% of Iran's annual GDP and 15% of total global energy subsidies. -Radio Farda 11/2/18