Tehran (FT): Iran has earned over $23 billion from selling crude oil in roughly six months since the beginning of the present fiscal year in March, the Central Bank of Iran reported, indicating a strong recovery in Iran’s oil industry since last year’s lifting of sanctions. The country shipped over 2.6 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensates on average in roughly six months, Mehr News Agency reported, citing a report by the Monetary and Banking Research Institute of CBI. The third-largest OPEC producer, which slipped to sixth place under sanctions, reportedly generated $25 billion in oil revenues in the fiscal 2015-16, when restrictions against its economy and oil trade were in place. With six months left before the end of fiscal 2017-18, revenues from crude exports can more than double and comfortably exceed last year’s forecasts if prices hold firmly above the $50 per barrel range. Brent is now trading at a healthy level of $55 per barrel. Data by Iran Oil Terminals Company on Tuesday showed the country exported 200 million barrels of condensates in the previous fiscal, or more than 457,000 barrels daily. With international benchmark Brent reaching a 18-month high of $58 per barrel in January, oil had a strong start to the year on the back of a major deal between OPEC and 11 non-OPEC producers to cut supplies by 1.8 million barrels a day. But the recovery bode ill for OPEC members who represent 40% of global oil supplies, as higher prices emboldened producers in the US and elsewhere to raise production and mount pressure on the supply cut deal.
Oil prices fell to a year-low of around $45 a barrel in mid-June and struggled to break the $50-per-barrel mark for much of the following months, as new players as well as expectations for deeper cuts undermined the commodity. A global oversupply continues to remain a major headache for oil economies that sold every barrel upwards of $100 three years ago. The CBI report named China, India, South Korea and Japan as the largest importers of Iranian crude. Asian customers take in more than 60% of oil exports while orders by European companies account for nearly 40% of Iran’s outbound shipments, the report said. Sanctions imposed against Tehran over its nuclear dispute curtailed crude production to around 1 million bpd, as exports to Europe dropped to zero. Under the sanctions regime, a handful of countries, mainly Iran’s backbone oil clients such as India, China and South Korea, were allowed to conduct crude transactions with Iran.