Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia are expected to meet during the International Energy Forum in Algeria over Sept. 26-28 to discuss a possible output freeze to stabilize oil prices that are still down around 60% since mid-2014.
August crude exports from Iran excluding condensate roughly doubled from a year ago to 2.11 million bpd, the source said, based on data compiled from tanker loading schedules.
The crude exports have climbed from 1.9 million bpd in June and 1.83 million bpd in July, the schedules showed. Iran's August exports are the highest since January 2012, boosted by record purchases from the world's third-largest oil importer India and a 48% jump that brought European sales to 630,000 bpd, tanker loadings for last month also showed.
Other sources who track Iran's shipping data or who are familiar with its tanker loadings have slightly different figures for Iran's crude exports in August, but still show a near doubling since January.
Condensate Exports
If shipments of the ultra light oil were steady with this year's average of nearly 310,000 bpd, the total crude and condensate exports last month would be this year's highest at 2.41 million bpd, still short of average pre-sanctions exports of 2.5 million to 2.6 million bpd in 2011, according to figures from the US Energy Information Administration.
Iran's crude exports excluding condensate to Asia in August were 1.48 million bpd, up from 1.40 million bpd in July and roughly steady to this year's previous peak in April.
Loadings headed for India reached a likely record of nearly 600,000 bpd last month, according to data stretching back at least 15 years, up 150,000 bpd from July, and topping 564,000 bpd loaded for China.
Iranian oil was also loaded for Turkey, Greece, and Spain, and exports to Italy more than doubled from the previous month to 87,000 bpd, according to the schedules.
To further boost its exports, Iran expects to complete the building of a terminal by year-end for a new grade.
