Iran Says Has Exported 700,000 bpd of Oil Since March

Iran’s average oil exports have been 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) since March, an official from the budget and planning organization said on Wednesday, defying U.S. sanctions aimed at dropping Tehran’s main source of income to zero.

Iran’s oil exports have shrunk from more than 2.5 million bpd since the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions.

“The average oil sales so far this [Iranian] year have been 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day,” Hamid Pourmohammadi told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, without providing further details. The Iranian year began on March 20.

Iranian authorities have said Washington’s “maximum pressure” policy aimed at halting Iran’s oil exports has failed as Tehran has been working to get around the measures and keep exports flowing.

Citing three assessments based on tanker tracking, Reuters reported this year that Iranian oil exports had risen sharply in September, although the figures fall into a wide range of between 400,000 and 1.5 million bpd.