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Iran’s Oil-Peddling Woes Continue

Tankers with millions of gallons unsold oil remain parked in the Gulf

by
Adam Chandler
April 24, 2013
(PressTV)
(PressTV)

Though it feels like there’s been something of a journalistic divestment in the efficacy of the sanctions against Iran in recent weeks, especially with this week’s news of a massive arms deal between the United States and Israel raising the temperature a bit, a monthly look at how Iran has struggled to find buyers for its oil shows how the sanctions continue to weaken Iran.

Iran is expected to export 1.08 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in April, preliminary data obtained by Reuters showed, up from the 810,000 bpd that was scheduled to load in March but still far lower than 2.5 million bpd in 2011, before sanctions slashed oil sales last year.



“The problem for Iran is because the bulk of income for the budget comes from oil, this is where it is feeling the pressure. It must maintain exports at a minimum of 1.5 million barrels per day, if not more, to fund the budget,” said Mehdi Varzi, a former official at the state run National Iranian Oil Co.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.