TOKYO: Asian imports of Iranian oil fell nearly 6 percent from a year earlier in September, as Iran’s biggest crude buyers held off from increasing purchases following the landmark agreement on Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme in July.
Imports by Iran’s four biggest buyers – China, India, Japan and South Korea – totalled just over 1 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, 5.9 percent lower than a year earlier, government and tanker-tracking data showed.
Tehran is keen to recoup market share ceded under U.S. and European Union sanctions and boost the country’s battered economy but will not see significant relief until next year, once agreed hurdles to increased oil exports have been cleared.
The sanctions were designed to keep Iran’s exports at around 1 million bpd, down from 2.5 million bpd in 2011, and get Tehran to negotiate on its disputed nuclear activities, which Western powers say is a cover for building an atomic bomb. Iran has consistently denied it aims to make a weapon.
Under the accord reached in Vienna on July 14, Iran will be subject to longer-term restrictions on its nuclear programme in return for the removal of U.S., U.N. and European sanctions.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani reaffirmed on Tuesday he expected sanctions on Iran to be lifted by year-end, but most analysts say that is too optimistic, given the steps needed for Tehran to be given relief.
For the first nine months of 2015, Asian buyers took in almost 1.1 million bpd, down 6.1 percent from a year earlier. Japan’s purchases fell more than 15 percent from a year earlier to 173,971 bpd, trade ministry data showed on Friday.
Iran’s oil loadings for next-month arrivals look to be headed towards a seven-month low in October, down 13 percent from revised September levels, according to tanker data, confirming Tehran has struggled to raise exports despite the optimism over the landmark deal. Condensate loadings have been robust this month, however, as a result of Iran’s attractive pricing relative to other suppliers of the natural gas byproduct.
