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| Iran expands oil tanker fleet to boost sales despite sanctions: IEA |
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.jpg) TEHRAN - Iran has expanded its oil tanker fleet with vessels from China and is selling more crude oil to Beijing despite the international sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over Tehran's nuclear program, the IEA said in a report on Friday.On July 1, the U.S. implemented a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran’s shipping and automobile industries, gold sales and financial institutions doing business in the rial, the IEA said.
The U.S. and its allies are restricting Iran’s oil exports, the country’s largest revenue source, and targeting its financial industry.
In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said Iranian crude oil production in July fell back to 2.6 million barrels per day (mbd) -- 50,000 million barrels less per day from June.
In contrast, however, the IEA said that preliminary data show that Iranian crude oil exports climbed to 1.16 mbd from just 960,000 barrels per day in June, mainly owing to a rebound in Chinese imports which last month rose to 660,000 barrels of oil per day from 385,000 the month before.
"Just five countries reported importing crude from Iran in July -- China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates," the IEA said, noting the number of countries totaled as many as 16 in January 2012.
Despite this, the IEA said "Iran continues to expand its shipping fleet in a bid to sustain crude sales in the wake of increasingly stringent international sanctions".
Since May, it has added four more supertankers, known as VLCCs, to its fleet, which now totals 37 VLCCs and 14 smaller crude tankers.
Most of the additions come from China as part of a 2009 deal to buy 12 VLCCs for $1.2 billion (898 million euros).
"The expanding shipping fleet should provide the state oil company more flexibility in marketing its crude and for use in floating storage," the IEA said.
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