May 2, 2014 | Quote

Iran’s Oil Exports Fall in April, Closer to Western Limits

Iran's oil exports fell in April for a second month, according to sources who track tanker movements, moving closer to levels allowed by November's interim deal on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.

The decline may reflect seasonally lower crude oil demand and U.S. pressure on some customers take less. Signs of higher Iranian sales since late 2013 have led to concern in Washington that a softening of sanctions has given Tehran's economy a boost.

“It looks like India has imported less in April – that could be due to a combination of more pressure from the United States and also lower crude demand at this time of year by Indian buyers,” a tanker-tracking source said.

Tim Wilson, of U.S. based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) which backs tougher measures, said exports are still on course to exceed that level over the six-month period because of sharply higher sales in earlier months.

“Under that plan Iran was expected to maintain crude oil exports at the same levels as during 2013 with the State Department monitoring the aggregate over time,” said Wilson.

“The State Department should now be having considerable concerns.”

The Obama administration believes that Iran's oil sales will fall in coming months and average 1 million bpd over the entire six-month period.

Wilson of the FDD said: “In order to remain within the expected oil export figures, Iran will need to reduce their exports by almost 80 percent for the remainder of the JPOA period.”

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Issues:

Iran Iran Sanctions