Iran's Oil Exports Have Surpassed 'Two Million Barrels Per Day'

The director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company stated in an interview with the state newspaper 'Iran' that since the implementation of the JCPOA in December of last year, Iran has managed to restore approximately 900,000 barrels of its export share in the oil market daily. In the Wednesday, April 15 issue of the newspaper, Mohsen Qamsari announced that Iran will continue to strive to fully realize its production and export increase plans. Qamsari declared Iran's oil exports to be above two million barrels per day. Before the sanctions, Iran exported 2.2 million barrels of crude oil and 300,000 barrels of gas condensates daily. After the 2012 sanctions, Iran's daily crude oil exports plummeted to one million barrels per day. According to Mr. Qamsari's statements, Iran has managed to increase its production to over 3.8 million barrels per day in less than four months since the implementation of the JCPOA and the lifting of sanctions. Global organizations have not yet published statistics on Iran's oil production and exports for April, but the International Energy Agency's report indicates that Iran's oil production in March was about 3.3 million barrels, excluding gas condensates, a type of crude oil produced from gas wells. In another part of his remarks, Mohsen Qamsari stated that 1.8 million barrels of Iran's produced oil are directed to domestic refineries. Iran had previously announced that as soon as the sanctions were lifted, it would increase its oil production by 500,000 barrels per day and would add the same amount to its production after six months. Qamsari mentioned that based on this, Iran is ahead of its planned programs in increasing crude oil sales. This oil official noted that the revival of the lost market occurred under conditions where Iran did not offer any discounts to its customers, and prices in oil sales contracts are determined according to market prices. 'The conditions for selling oil are different from before the sanctions.' The newspaper Iran further writes that before the sanctions, almost all of Iran's oil since 2012 was sent to Asian markets such as Japan, South Korea, China, India, and of course Turkey, and Iran's oil markets were defined in two sections. One section consisted of traditional customers who bought oil from Iran to diversify their energy portfolio, while the other primarily consisted of refineries that were defined and built based on the specifications of the oil produced in the country, which had to change their refinery specifications through reinvestment and source their consumed oil from other countries after the sanctions on Iran. The report continues that at that time, most oil contracts were one or two years long, and customers purchased each barrel of oil from Iran at a fixed price, with daily purchases being rare. However, now that Iran is reviving its share in the European market, the conditions of contracts are different from the past, with most oil sales contracts being daily, referred to as 'cash market.' Thus, buyers receive a volume of oil daily at the market price from Iran. The state newspaper Iran then cites an unnamed official who expressed that this market is both a threat and an opportunity for Iran. 'Currently, most European customers buy crude oil from us in this manner, which poses a threat to our oil industry because the implementation progress of the JCPOA in the coming months may not be favorable, and banking and insurance sanctions may not be fully lifted; in this case, European customers may refuse to buy Iranian crude oil. However, the advantage is that if crude oil prices rise, we will sell oil at the market price.' In this context, Iran faces the challenge of 'finding ships' for its increasing oil exports. Iran: Stabilizing oil production until returning to pre-sanction levels is ruled out. Iran has resumed oil exports to Greece. Middle Eastern oil countries will 'lose another $500 billion' this year. The World Bank: Iran's daily oil production has increased by 400,000 barrels. Asia increased its oil imports from Iran by 50% in March. Rouhani: They say we had a good life under sanctions, why did you disrupt it?