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Iran denies steep plunge in oil exports

The Phase 4 and Phase 5 gas refineries are seen in Assalouyeh, 1,000 km (621 miles) south of Tehran, January 27, 2011. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

The Phase 4 and Phase 5 gas refineries are seen in Assalouyeh, 1,000 km (621 miles) south of Tehran, January 27, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Caren Firouz

DUBAI | Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:26am EDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports have remained steady in recent months, Iran's OPEC governor said on Saturday, denying a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that Iran is struggling to arrest a decline in its oil sales.

In a report on Friday, the IEA estimated Iran's exports falling to a new low of 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September, a huge plunge from 2.2 million bpd at the end of 2011.

The drop in Iranian supply is supporting oil prices and hurting Tehran's revenues, deepening hardship for a population deprived of basic imports and adding to pressure on the government over its nuclear program.

But Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran's OPEC governor, said the IEA's data was faulty and ran counter to data provided to OPEC by Iran.

"Iran's oil exports are the same as previous months and the situation is stable," Khatibi was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) on Saturday.

Khatibi also denied that the only buyers of Iranian oil were China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Turkey.

"The market for Iranian oil is beyond the mentioned countries...We are always exploring new markets but we don't publicize them much because it may be detrimental," Khatibi said without elaborating.

The United States and its allies are pressing Tehran to give up its disputed nuclear program by choking off oil revenues, which provide the vast majority of Iran's hard currency earnings. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes.

The European Union banned Iranian crude from July 1 and other countries have cut purchases in response to tighter U.S. sanctions. The EU ban prevents EU insurance firms from covering Iran's exports, hindering imports by some non-EU buyers.

On Friday, the European Union provisionally approved new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, with senior diplomats giving their backing to measures against Tehran's banking sector and industry.

(Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; editing by Keiron Henderson)
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Comments (3)
Sassan31 wrote:
Yes Mr. “Logical123″, Iran’s economy is doing so well and the sanctions are having absolutely no effect :rolleyes:. All the propaganda statements by the regime are absolutely true and the recent economic crisis in Iran as we have seen in the plunging in the rial means absolutely nothing :doublerolleyes:

Oct 13, 2012 5:46pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Logical123 wrote:
Sassan31: To respond to you would be the height of folly. So, believe whatever you like. I couldn’t care less.

Oct 13, 2012 6:38pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Logical123 wrote:
Reuters shows its true colors in deleting comments that show anything positive about Iran. All Reuters articles must show only negative stories about Iran, the supposed greatest threat to world peace. It is simply laughable.

My earlier comment mentioned a recent IMF report said that Iran’s GDP is actually expected to rise next year. I guess this prediction would be horrible news and people should never learn about such facts.

Oct 14, 2012 11:31am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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