Iran's crude exports have been experiencing a modest increase in the past few months, which look promising for the OPEC’s third-biggest producer to regain its foothold in the international market.
Crude and condensate exports by Iran totaled 2.69 million barrels a day. That beat the previous high of 2.56 bpd in February this year, ISNA reported.
The surge follows a considerable increase in the country's crude exports to China and Turkey, which took in a total amount of 915,000 bpd in April.
Iran sent 714,000 bpd to China in April, while the shipments to the East Asian country stood at 704,000 bpd in February.
Turkey's crude imports from Iran February registered a 183,000-bpd high, which surged to 201,000 bpd in April.
India also played a strong role in increasing Iran's crude exports. The country purchased about 670,000 barrels of crude from Iran in April, up 42,000 compared with that of February.
India purchased about 700,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran in March, hitting a record high in the history of bilateral oil trade. Iran's oil exports to India were over 50% higher than that of last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2018), which stood at around 450,000 bpd.
Iran has been working to regain market share since western sanctions over its nuclear program were lifted in 2016 under a deal between the country and six major powers.
Exports of crude oil and condensate declined to approximately 1.5 million bpd in 2012 following the imposition of sanctions, while the figure stood at 2.5 million bpd in 2011, according to US Energy Information Administration.
The 39% decline in exports was coupled with a 17% drop in crude oil and condensate production and a 1% decline in liquid fuels consumption, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other products. Most of the 2012 drop in production is attributable to tightened sanctions. A smaller decline in 2011 resulted mainly from declining production in aging fields. However, Iran remained the second-largest OPEC crude oil producer on average during 2012.
