Iran's Oil Exports to Asia More Than Doubled Compared to Last Year

Iran's oil exports to four major Asian customers in October have increased nearly 2.5 times compared to the same month last year. According to Reuters, India and China each received nearly 800,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran last month. In total, China, India, South Korea, and Japan, as Iran's largest oil customers, purchased 1,992,000 barrels of oil from the country daily in October, compared to 803,674 barrels in October of the previous year. The report adds that, according to the International Energy Agency, Iran's oil exports to Asia have reached their highest level since at least 2010. According to official statistics from Japan, the country bought 202,000 barrels per day from Iran last month, showing an increase of over 32%. India purchased more than 789,000 barrels of oil, the highest figure in the last 15 years. China also doubled its imports, bringing the amount to nearly 774,000 barrels. Meanwhile, South Korea increased its imports from Iran by over 73% to 227,500 barrels. The average daily oil exports from Iran to these countries in the first 10 months of this year have reached over 1,783,000 barrels, indicating an increase of over 51%. Iran claims that the total oil exports of the country last month were 2,440,000 barrels per day. Besides the four major oil customers, Turkey and some European companies are also purchasing oil from Iran. Before sanctions, Iran had oil exports of 2.2 million barrels, but this figure fell to about 1 million barrels per day during the sanctions. Sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program were lifted in January of this year.