Iran’s oil exports fall in April

2014-05-04

Iran’s oil exports fell in April for a second month, according to sources who track tanker movements, moving closer to levels allowed by November’s interim deal on curbing Tehran’s nuclear program.

The decline may reflect seasonally lower crude oil demand and US pressure on some customers take less. Signs of higher Iranian sales since late 2013 have led to concern in Washington that a softening of sanctions has given Tehran’s economy a boost.

“It looks like India has imported less in April ñ that could be due to a combination of more pressure from the United States and also lower crude demand at this time of year by Indian buyers,” a tanker-tracking source said.

Iran’s crude exports have averaged 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, said one of the sources, down from almost 1.3 million bpd in March. That would bring exports back down to the average 2013 level of Iranian imports.

Under an interim deal signed in November between Iran and six world powers — known as the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) — that came into effect on Jan. 20, Iran’s exports are supposed to be held to an average 1 million bpd through July 20.

Tim Wilson, of US based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) which backs tougher measures, said exports are still on course to exceed that level over the six-month period because of sharply higher sales in earlier months.

“Under that plan Iran was expected to maintain crude oil exports at the same levels as during 2013 with the State Department monitoring the aggregate over time,” said Wilson.

Source from : Reuters

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