to keep up the development of the South Pars gasfield, is not selling well, according to the Fars news agency.
The sale of 5 trillion rials ($460 million) in bonds started November 26. After one week, only 14 percent of the bonds had been sold, Fars said.
The National Iranian Oil Co. had hoped to sell all the bonds in just a few days. The poor sale prompted the NIOC to extended the offering.
There was speculation the bonds were unpopular because they are denominated in rials. In recent months, there has been a flight to foreign currencies and gold. Part of that is likely a result of the fact that the Ahmadi-nejad Administration has pushed interest rates down below the rate of inflation, making it a loss for the public to put their savings into rials.
The Oil Ministry has said it wants to float a total of $4.6 billion worth of bonds, in rials and euros, before Now Ruz to support South Pars development.