Sanctions | FT: Iran's oil exports rose to a six-year high

Iran exported the most crude oil in six years at the beginning of the year, says the British newspaper Financial Times (FT).

According to the newspaper, Iran sold an average of 1.56 million barrels per day in the first quarter of this year. It is the highest level thus in the third quarter of 2018.

The data is based on data collected by Vortexa, which specializes in energy trade monitoring.

The United States and the European Union are currently considering new economic sanctions against Iran. The sanctions would be a response to Iran's attack on Israel, and are in part an attempt to dissuade Israel from retaliating against Iran.

However, American analysts have estimated that the president Joe Biden the administration is quite reluctant to tough sanctions in an election year. Effective sanctions can disrupt oil supply and thus accelerate inflation.

Vortexa analyst and package expert Armen Azizian tells the FT that the size of the fleet used by Iran for oil transportation has increased by a fifth during the year to 253 ships. The number of Iran's so-called supertankers has doubled since 2021, Azizian estimates.

Tankers according to the following Kpler, almost all of Iran's oil exports have gone to China this year. Therefore, in addition to the oil market, effective sanctions could destabilize relations between the United States and China.

China imports a fifth of its oil from Iran. China usually refines its imported oil in state-owned oil and gas companies, but oil from Iran is refined in China in small private refineries.

Iran's oil minister Javad Owji said last month that the country's oil exports brought the country more than US$35 billion (about €33 billion) in revenue last year.

The United States is now the world's largest oil producer thanks to increased shale oil production over the past decade. That's why the United States can be more aggressive in economic sanctions today.

On Wednesday, the country imposed economic sanctions against Venezuela.