President underlines steady growth of Iran's oil exports

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani hailed the unsparing efforts made by the Iranian Oil Ministry staff to materialize his administration's goal of boosting the country' oil and gas exports based on projected plans. “As far as oil exports are concerned, we exported oil as we had predicted and this is very important,” President Rouhani told the first Cabinet session in the new Iranian year which started on March 21, the oil ministry's website, shana, reported. He further added that Iran’s revenues are close to real figures, adding that tax revenues have been more than predicted. “All these show that the government has been successful in its job and I am very happy that the government has made very good achievements during the past seven months,” said the president. Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that Iran has steadily increased its exports of crude oil since November 2013 as global demand for its energy supplies rose, adding that China's purchase of Iranian crude has now returned to pre-sanctions level. "Iran’s top oil importers have bought more than 1 million bpd since November, making February the fourth straight month in which Tehran’s oil exports increased despite western sanctions," the IEA said in a report. February crude loadings by Iran's top four buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - rose to 1.16 million bpd. China imported 502,500 bpd of Iranian crude oil last month, taking its purchases back to pre-sanctions levels. The Asian country received 564,536 bpd in January. Meanwhile, China’s state-run trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp has announced that it is negotiating a new condensate contract with Tehran, which could increase crude import from Iran even more in 2014. India, Iran’s second-biggest client bought 304,286 bpd of crude in February and 412,000 bpd in January. South Korea imported 1.1 million tons of Iranian crude in February, equivalent to 294,069 barrels per day, showing an increase of 104 percent compared to the same period last year. Including Turkey, Iran's crude and condensate exports rose to 1.37 million bpd in February, up by 74,000 bpd from January, said the report. An interim accord easing restrictions on insurance for Iran’s oil shipments and freeing up cash held outside the country in return for Iran’s more cooperation to address western concerns over its nuclear program went into effect last month. Under the agreement, six buyers permitted under US sanctions to take Iranian crude don’t have to cut imports to avoid penalties. Iran had an estimated 30 million barrels of crude held on tankers at the end of January, including 6 million barrels in vessels off China’s coast, according to the report. Total production rose by 30,000 barrels to 2.78 million last month, as cold winter weather in Iran boosted domestic fuel use. The six buyers permitted to import Iranian crude under US sanctions are Turkey, China, Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan.