Iranian oil minister says no upcoming US administration able to stop country’s oil exports

TABNAK: “With measures taken in the public government (current government) and also through providing grounds for oil and agricultural products exports, I announce that no administration that comes to power in the US will be able to block oil exports of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said on Wednesday.

He also referred to Iranian expertise progress in oil and gas fields, saying despite Total’s withdrawal from $4.5 billion project to accomplish Phase 11 of South Pars Gas Field following US pulling out of the nuclear deal, Iran has managed to implement the project indigenously over last 3 years.

According to Iranian oil officials, ever since the late Iranian President Ebrahiam Raisi took power in August 2021, the country’s oil exports have been on an upward trajectory.

The rise in Iran’s oil exports has taken place despite tough U.S. sanctions which aimed to choke off Iran’s oil industry as a main source of revenue for the Islamic Republic. 

On May 26, Financial Times cited figures by data company Vortexa in April noting that Iran was exporting more oil than at any time for the past six years, giving its economy a $35bn-a-year boost.

The report said that Tehran sold an average of 1.56mn barrels a day during the first three months of 2024, almost all of it to China and its highest level since the third quarter of 2018.

“The Iranians have mastered the art of sanctions circumvention,” said Fernando Ferreira, head of a geopolitical risk service at the Rapidan Energy Group in the U.S.

Earlier in March, Owji had said that oil exports had “generated more than $35bn” in the preceding year. On another occasion, he said that while Iran’s enemies wanted to stop its exports, “today, we can export oil anywhere we want, and with minimal discounts”.