2024-04-18 08:13:30
Exports reached Iran Oil prices have risen to a six-year high, giving Iran’s economy an estimated $35 billion a year in financial boost, despite Western countries’ efforts to discuss escalating sanctions once morest Tehran following his attack on Israel last Saturday.
Tehran sold an average of 1.56 million barrels per day in the first three months of this year, most of which went to China, the highest level of its oil sales since the third quarter of 2018, according to Vortexa data.
The newspaper said:Financial TimesThe British newspaper said Iran’s success in exporting its oil at this rate highlights the difficulties facing the United States and the European Union as they seek to increase pressure on Tehran following his missile attack and marches on Israel.
Fernando Ferreira, director of the geopolitical risks unit at Rapidan Energy Group, said the Iranians have mastered the art of circumventing sanctions, adding that if the administration of US President Joe Biden wants to have an impact, it must transfer the pressure on China.
Washington and the European Union are preparing a new sanctions package once morest Iran, aiming to discourage Israel from escalating the conflict with Tehran by retaliating for the missile attack.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged this week that Iran “clearly” continued to export its oil and that more might be done to curb the trade.
But analysts say Washington is unwilling to impose a policy of maximum pressure to implement sanctions announced by then-US President Donald Trump in 2018, due to Joe Biden’s reluctance to pursue measures that lead to the strangulation of oil supplies in an election year.
China…the main buyer
In Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim agency said on Wednesday that the country’s oil industry had found ways to circumvent sanctions, adding that the fact that China was the main buyer protected Tehran from the impact of Western sanctions.
Almost all Iranian oil sold this year has gone to China, according to Kpler, which tracks the movement of tankers around the world, and imposing harsh sanctions on Iran might destabilize not only the oil market, but also relations between China and the United States. States.
China depends on Iran for regarding 10 percent of its oil imports, but it gets it not from its state-owned company but through smaller oil companies and refineries.
Israel shot down around 300 missiles and drones launched by Iran last weekend, in the first direct attack on Israel, intensifying fears that the region might descend into a wider conflict, as Israel considers how to respond to it.
Iran launched its attack in response to Israel’s targeting of its consulate in Damascus in early April, which killed a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer and 6 officers among 13 people killed in the attack.
Low oil prices
Regional tensions since the outbreak of the Gaza war have caused crude prices to rise more than 15% to around $90 a barrel, but prices fell once more following the Iranian attack as traders bet that supplies to the region would not be hampered, and the price of Brent crude, the global standard, fell 3% to around $87.37 a barrel on Wednesday.
Armen Azazian, a Vortexa analyst and sanctions specialist, said the United States recently began individually targeting tankers suspected of carrying Iranian crude, imposing sanctions on two tankers in February and April 13, but that The impact of this measure on exports was very weak.
Iranian Shadow Fleet
Azazian said the Iranians are very good at finding loopholes, pointing out that they fool tracking devices and pretend these tankers are in one location even if they are in another location, making it difficult to track. followed by Iranian oil.
He pointed out that the fleet used by Iran to transport its oil is made up of around 253 tankers and that the number of giant tankers capable of carrying around 2 million barrels has doubled.
Iranian Oil Minister Javad Ozgi said last month that Iranian oil exports generated revenues of $35 billion last year, and on another occasion he said that even if Iran’s enemies Iran want Iran to stop exporting oil, “today we export oil wherever we want, with discounts.” “Simple.”
Growing production of shale fuels over the past decade has made the United States the world’s largest oil producer, giving Washington greater freedom to impose sanctions on other types of crude.
On Wednesday, Washington reimposed sanctions on Venezuela, a member of the OPEC oil producers’ organization.
The US administration is also prepared to use crude oil from its strategic reserves, and has indicated it would do so once more if global prices rise once more.
Despite this, Republicans are putting heavy pressure on Biden to impose more sanctions on Iranian oil, amid accusations that the administration is being lenient in imposing sanctions.
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