Iran's oil exporters have record month before possible sanctions

Arsalan Shahla May 01, 2018

TEHRAN (Bloomberg) -- Iran’s crude exporters had a banner April, with shipments soaring to a record right before the possible re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on their oil sales.

Crude exports by OPEC’s third-biggest producer totaled 2.61 MMbpd, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry’s Shana news service. That beat the previous high of 2.44 MMbpd in October 2016, it said.

U.S. President Donald Trump will decide by May 12 whether to keep America in an international agreement that restricts Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for relief from sanctions and a restriction on oil sales. Since sanctions were eased as of January 2016, Iran’s crude production has almost doubled. China and India together took 1.4 MMbpd from Iran in April, according to Shana.

Some oil traders are already unwilling to sign contracts for Iranian crude and refined products that would be valid after May 12, according to recent interviews with six companies that buy and sell oil in the Middle East.

Iran’s crude and condensate exports in April were 2.87 MMbpd, Shana reported. Observed shipments of both rose to 2.83 MMbpd from 2.48 MMbbl in March, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Crude volume alone rose to 2.48 MMbbl from 2.06 million, the data show.

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