2023-06-16 19:53:04
Iranian oil began flooding the international market once more despite the re-imposition of US sanctions in 2018, which poses risks to the fragile global crude market, according to a report from the agency.bloomberg“.
The agency’s report says that specialized institutions indicate that most of the Iranian oil flows to China, where the largest importer in the world gets barrels at discounted prices from Tehran.
The report believes that the recovery in oil sales is a sign that Iran, which is still suffering financially from years of isolation, is reasserting itself, following it began repairing relations with regional competitors.
However, Bloomberg says the extra supplies are undermining confidence in the oil market, which has been weakened by stuttering economic growth and cheap Russian shipments.
Crude oil shipments have doubled since last fall, reaching 1.6 million barrels per day, in May, even with the continuation of US sanctions, according to the “Kpler” company, and production reached 2.9 million barrels per day, the highest level since late 2018, according to estimates by the Energy Agency. International, headquartered in Paris.
While consultants in “SVB Energy”, “Petro-Logistics SA” and “FGE” believe that production is higher than that, and may exceed 3 million barrels per day.
A recovery in inflows may boost an economy battered by rampant inflation, currency depreciation and periodic unrest once morest the hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi.
This coincides with other good signs for Iran, including rapprochement with regional rival Saudi Arabia in April, efforts to rehabilitate its Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, and secret talks to reduce tensions with the White House.
And through negotiations between mediators in Oman and on the sidelines of United Nations meetings, Washington and Tehran are slowly moving towards an understanding to release American prisoners and explore borders for Iranian nuclear research in return for an opportunity to ship more crude oil, according to what the report quotes from a person familiar with the Iranian position.
But a US State Department official said rumors of a nuclear deal were “false and misleading” and that the US priority remained preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Since the reimposition of US sanctions five years ago, Iranian crude has been shipped to the few remaining buyers on a so-called “dark fleet” of tankers, often old and uninsured, that deactivate transponders to avoid detection.
Along with the growing appetite from China, some analysts have speculated that the increase was tacitly allowed by a US government bent on keeping gasoline prices in check, Bloomberg reported.
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