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Page added on February 14, 2014
Iranian Oil Exports Soar as Sanctions Collapse
Iranian oil exports soared in January, hitting new highs just months after the United States consented to billions of dollars in economic sanctions relief under the interim nuclear deal.
Exports of Iranian crude oil jumped to 1.32 million barrels, up from December’s high of 1.06 million barrels, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
The spike in exports—mainly to Japan, China, and India—has helped Iran’s once-ailing economy stabilize and decrease inflation.
Iranian oil exports have steadily risen since negotiations with the West restored confidence in Tehran’s economy. The increase runs counter to a promise by the Obama administration that “Iran’s oil exports will remain steady at their current level of around 1 million barrels per day.”
The significant rise in oil exports has led some experts to accuse the Obama administration of misleading the public about the amount of sanctions relief provided under the interim nuclear deal.
While the White House said Iran would receive no more than $7 billion in relief, these experts say that the rise in oil exports and other economic spikes will give Iran “well more than $20 billion.”
“These numbers … cast doubt on the accuracy of the administration’s estimates for sanctions relief,” former Ambassador Mark Wallace, CEO of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, said in a statement. “The $6 or $7 billion estimate does not take into account the tens of billions of dollars Iran will reap from increased oil sales.”
“It is becoming more and more evident that the Geneva deal provided Iran with disproportionate sanctions relief, in exchange for far less significant concessions regarding its nuclear program,” Wallace said.
Iran currently has some 30 million barrels of crude oil stored on tankers, “including 6 million barrels in vessels off China’s coast,” Iran’s state-run media reported. It produced 30,000 more barrels in January, bringing its total to around 2.78 million, according to the report.
As international markets continue to open their arms for Tehran, South Korea is reportedly set to become Iran’s next oil customer.
Two Korean banks are gearing up to make payments to Iran for its crude oil, the country’s Fars News Agency reported. South Korea would join China and Japan as top importers of Iranian crude.
India is also moving to become one of Iran’s top oil importers. It announced that it would purchase oil exclusively from Tehran through 2015.
“We will only buy crude oil from Iran in 2014-2015 period if the current sanctions on the insurance coverage of tankers are lifted,” an official from India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) was quoted as saying by Fars.
HPCL, like other global companies, had ended its business relationship with Tehran due to international sanctions making it illegal for such business to occur.
However, the economic landscape is shifting as the Obama administration agrees to reverse sanctions in return for Tehran’s cooperation on the nuclear front.
India, for instance, is looking to boost its business dealings in other areas of the Iranian marketplace.
Iran is still set to cash in on $4.2 billion in cash infusions courtesy of the Obama administration, which began unfreezing these cash assets last month. Iran will receive some $450 million on March 1 and another $550 million on March 7 under the deal.
12 Comments on "Iranian Oil Exports Soar as Sanctions Collapse"
Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 7:15 pm
Well, N/R, your chance at a quick end to BAU was averted with the stabilization of the Iranian nuclear dispute. We all know the setback the world economy would have suffered as a result of an open ended conflict there, the long lead time to repair and rebuild infrastructure, and the obvious effects of a corresponding oil shortage. Not over to the Fat lady Howls!..sings
ghung on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 7:20 pm
“Iranian Oil Exports Soaring” hasn’t affected oil prices much it seems. I read a couple of months ago that easing sanctions was going to crash the price of Brent. Not so much, so far.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 9:25 pm
Davy — Clearly, the fleet of warships that Iran sent our way scared the Obama admin into over-relaxing the sanctions. The threat was mighty, the American leadership was flighty, and so Iran is now making big bucks alrighty.
Actually, now Iran has even more money and bribery power to build their nuclear capability than before. Somewhere, I think I hear that fat lady warming up for a major burst of noise.
Hey, its Friday. What can I say…
J-Gav on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 10:19 pm
So much the better, if any of the benefit actually trickles down (yes, they play that game too) to the Iranian people …
MSN fanboy on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 11:36 pm
Lol you guys… sarcasm is the best medicine, especially when facts disprove your “Collapse” belief’s.
DC on Fri, 14th Feb 2014 11:58 pm
LoL! Never heard of this ‘free beacon’ before but ok, ill bite.
-Irans exports are not ‘soaring’. They just are what they are.
-The US regimes ‘sanction’s (just a polite way of saying warfare by other means) are completely illegal-no basis in international law. Nations are free to ignore them as they see fit.
-The so-called ‘relief’ offered up but the corporate war-mongers in the obomber regime, are a) ‘temporary’, and b) leave well over 90% of the old crop of illegal sanctions(economic warfare), completely intact.
-Not satisfied with the token and largely meaningless ‘relief’ measures OR the current ‘sanctions’,the zionists in the so-called US ‘congress’ agitate for even more warfare on top of the already existing harassment and aggression they have in place currently.
Makati1 on Sat, 15th Feb 2014 1:22 am
This is not over. The empire was blocked by Iran’s buddies, Russia and China temporarily. Have you noticed the ramp up of Russian and Chinese bashing since Putin blocked the invasion of Syria?. The only rogue nations are the US, Israel and North Korea. All nuclear armed.
Will the match that touches off WW3 be N.Korea? Israel? Japan? Or a place not even on the radar today? We shall see.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 15th Feb 2014 3:01 am
@MSN, facts what fact? We opine here. Who knows what is real and fantasy in the new normal
Makati, what nation is not rogue today? You seem behind the times.
Northwest Resident on Sat, 15th Feb 2014 3:17 am
MSN — You remind me of a guy who used to know who always went to the gay bars and would hang out there, insulting them, making fun of them, and occasionally looking to beat up one. Then, wouldn’t you know, one day he realized that he was gay. I think you’re going to realize one day what compels you to hang out here and poke fun as us “doomers”. The sooner the better — for you.
rollin on Sat, 15th Feb 2014 5:17 am
I guess the threat of that powerful Iranian navy headed for us really worked.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 15th Feb 2014 11:53 am
@N/R, yea a closet doomer. They are always defensive and complain about us but they get hooked and they can’t get off here.
bobinget on Sat, 15th Feb 2014 6:19 pm
Thanks again Rollin. The best word I come up with is ‘pithy’.
It’s not often one gets laughs here.
A bigger, less funny joke got played on Saudi Arabia.
While KSA set about stressing every oil well in their desert paradise, Iran rope-a-doped.