LONDON—Iranian crude oil exports fell sharply again in April and could be down by as much as one million barrels a day this quarter as many countries reduce imports ahead of sanctions that come into effect on July 1, the International Energy Agency said Friday.
Iran’s oil production remained steady at 3.3 million barrels a day in April, but 15% to 25% of that oil wasn’t sold and had to be pumped into floating tanker storage, the IEA said, a process the country could continue for a couple of months before filling its storage and having to shut down fields, according to David Fyfe, head of the IEA’s oil markets division.
Preliminary trade figures show the Islamic Republic’s crude exports fell by 600,000 barrels a day to 1.6 million barrels a day in April, a shipping source told Dow Jones Newswires last week.
Based on the average price of Iran’s main heavy-crude export grade, a drop in exports of this size would have lost the country around $2 billion in revenue.
