Iran’s oil exports up 40% as US tanker seizure campaign fails

Iran’s crude oil exports have surged 40% since August when the new administration came to office, the CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) says, adding gas condensate sales have grown 250%.

"We have exported to some of the target countries more than during the implementation of the JCPOA,” Mohsen Khojastehmehr was quoted as saying Wednesday, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a multilateral agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

According to Press TV former US President Donald Trump exited the 2015 nuclear accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran, but the Islamic Republic kept some exports flowing despite the sanctions.

In recent months, international tanker trackers and shipping sources have confirmed rising Iranian oil exports amid tight global supply that has helped to push oil prices to multi-year highs.

Khojastehmehr said the government’s policy is to reclaim Iran’s share of the market and return to export levels before the US sanctions.

"Compared to the beginning of the new government, exports of gas condensate have increased two and a half times. In the field of crude oil, we have had an overall increase of more than 40% in exports," he added.

In recent months, the US has aggressively been trying to track Iran’s tankers and seize them, but Iranian Minister of Oil Javad Owji says those efforts have been futile.

According to Owji, Iran's oil exports have risen under the toughest sanctions and without waiting for the outcome of the ongoing Vienna talks to remove them.

The increase is thanks to different methods used to win contracts and finding different buyers. Owji has said Iran “took oil to the places the Americans cannot even think of”.

ME