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Iranian oil exports increased after sanctions relaxed in January

April 12, 2014 at 3:53 pm

Iran has notably increased its oil exports since international sanctions over its nuclear programme were relaxed in January, reports claimed on Friday.


It exceeded the threshold proposed by the interim agreement – that took place in November last year and took effect in January this year – to curb uranium enrichment. Iran signed the agreement with world powers including the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.

Based on reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian oil exports reached 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd) in February. According to the interim agreement, exports should not pass the threshold of one million bpd.

Meanwhile, the US administration believes that Iran did not pass the average of one million bpd so far, as outlined in the agreement.

Spokeswoman of the US State Department Jen Psaki said on Friday that the US “still expect, and anticipate” that Iranian exports would not exceed the average of one million bpd in order “to meet the bar that was set in the interim agreement.”

Reuters said that the IAEA noticed Iran’s oil exports since February started at 240,000 bpd and have reached 1.65 million bpd. IAEA collects information about Iran’s oil exports from member and non-member states in the organisation.

It is worth mentioning that the UN Security Council has imposed sanctions four times on Iran since 2000 because of their nuclear programme. This has caused a severe decline in its oil exports.