Iranian oil exports plunge despite ‘creative solutions’

Iran’s oil exports have been falling much faster than expected, but Tehran is hoping to avoid the worst, deploying some creative solutions to keep exports from crashing too much, RT reports.

Iran’s oil exports may have plunged as much as 600,000-700,000 bpd in August, falling as low as 1.66 million barrels per day (mb/d), according to the Wall Street Journal and SVB Energy International. The pain only grows worse as the November deadline for US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry approaches. SVB expects Iran’s oil exports to fall as far as 0.8 mb/d by November. That will amount to the loss of nearly 1 mb/d from April, the month before the US withdrew from the nuclear accord.

The supply disruptions have been more severe than many had expected because the US is taking a very hard line on sanctions, sending signals that Washington will grant few, if any, waivers to buyers of Iranian oil. That, in turn, is making it difficult for Iran to find insurance for its shipments and bankers to finance the deals.