Iran is struggling with a sharp decline in oil exports to China and seeks to offload reserves stored in Chinese ports ahead of Donald Trump’s return to Washington.
Data from Kpler, a commodity intelligence company that tracks oil tankers, reveals that Iran’s oil exports to China have been declining since October. Over the past two months, daily oil deliveries from Iran to China have dropped below 1.3 million barrels, which is 550,000 barrels fewer than in October.
Meanwhile, Iran’s unsold floating oil reserves have more than doubled during this period, reaching approximately 20 million barrels.
A source at the National Iranian Oil Company, confirming the significant decline in oil exports, told Iran International that the primary issue lies in logistics. The source explained that recent US sanctions targeting dozens of oil tankers have complicated the transport of Iranian oil to East Asian waters and its covert delivery to China: “Iran hopes to resolve this issue in the coming months by purchasing more tankers,” the source who wished to remain anonymous added. So far, 380 tankers carrying sanctioned Iranian oil have been identified, with half added to the US blacklist.
Homayoon Falakshahi, a senior Kpler analyst, emphasized the challenges created by recent US sanctions on 35 tankers involved in covertly carrying Iranian oil, noting that half of the so-called “dark fleet” of tankers have been blacklisted. These mostly old and uninsured tankers play a critical role by turning off their automatic identification systems, transferring cargoes mid-sea to other tankers, altering documents and oil branding via intermediaries, and ultimately delivering the shipments to Chinese ports.—Iran International
