Iran oil exports touch new high in August 2023

Iranian oil exports continued upward trend in August and reached 1.85 million barrels per day (bpd), Bloomberg reported, citing TankerTrackers.com which provides data on oil cargoes to governments, insurers and other institutions.

The increase in Iranian shipments comes in the same month that key OPEC Plus producers Saudi Arabia and Russia kept a lid on their own oil exports in a bid to tighten the market.

According to the TankerTrackers data, Iranian crude exports topped two million barrels a day in the first 20 days of August, the highest this year.

Iran has been steadily ramping up its oil production and exports this year, finding buyers for its supplies in Asia. The country’s production is now at the highest level since a ban on its exports kicked in five years ago, with US officials privately acknowledging they’ve gradually relaxed enforcement on some of the measures.

Earlier this month, SVB International, an energy consultant, estimated Iran’s oil production in August to be 3.15 million bpd, the highest since 2018.

“Iran is on the path to recover its pre-sanctions oil production,” said SVB’s Sara Vakhshouri, Business Recorder reported.

Analysts believe the higher exports of Iranian crude oil appear to be the result of the Islamic Republic’s success in evading US sanctions.

Back in August, Bloomberg reported that China’s oil imports from Iran were soaring in August so that the shipments were expected to reach 1.5 million bpd, the highest since 2013.

Citing estimates from data intelligence firm Kpler, Bloomberg put China’s imports of Iranian oil during the January-July 2023 period at 917,000 bpd on average.

In late July, Kpler said that Iran’s oil shipments to China have more than tripled over the past three years despite the U.S. sanctions on the country and the increase in Russia’s shipments to the Asian country.

According to the data analyzing firm, Iranian crude exports to its major trade partner have been hovering around one million bpd in 2023, while the figure was roughly 325,000 bpd in 2020.

Also, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a recent report titled "Oil 2023" confirmed Iran's daily export of one million barrels of oil to China, saying, “Despite severe financial restrictions, Iran managed to increase its crude oil production by about 140,000 barrels per day in 2022 to an average of 2.5 million barrels per day. It seems that Tehran has maintained its crude sales to China, which has been around one million barrels per day since the third quarter of last year.”

Earlier in April, Bloomberg reported that “Chinese private refineries are buying more Iranian oil despite the rising competition for supplies from Russia.”

“So-called teapots are prioritizing the flows, with Russian supplies getting pricier as mainstream buyers such as state-owned Chinese refiners and Indian processors take a greater share,” the report read.

In March, China’s imports of Iranian crude and condensate jumped 20% month-on-month to 800,000 barrels a day, and are on track to extend gains in coming months, Emma Li, an analyst with data intelligence firm Vortexa Ltd told Bloomberg that month.

While Iranian oil has long been sanctioned by the U.S., refiners in China have proved to be a consistent outlet.

Most Iranian oil used to go to state-owned refineries but “the private refiners in Shandong especially are now running the show,” said Homayoun Falakshahi, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler.