Iran Exports Crude at 20% Premium Even as Unsold Barrels Pile Up at Sea

Crude oil in floating storage off the Iranian coast is on the rise amid reluctance among buyers, Bloomberg reported today, citing data from Vortexa and its own calculations, suggesting some 58 million barrels are sitting on tankers.

More than 90% of those barrels had no clear destination, Bloomberg said in its report, adding that the tankers were “indicating “for orders” or Singapore as their next port of call, a sign they may conduct ship-to-ship transfers in the Malacca Strait.”

Interestingly, an earlier report by CNBC said Iran was selling crude at a hefty premium of 20% to pre-war prices, with 40 million barrels already sold since the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The information came from Iran’s parliament speaker and chief peace negotiator Bhagher Ghalibaf, who said in a TV interview that “Since the day the naval blockade was lifted, we have exported more than 40 million barrels of oil.”

CNBC also quoted data from TankerTrackers.com, showing that Iran had exported even more than that, at an estimated 50 million barrels since the lifting of the U.S. blockade.

Improving oil flows from Hormuz have pushed oil prices back to pre-war levels, with Brent crude trading at $70.82 per barrel at the time of writing, and West Texas Intermediate at $67.84 per barrel. The benchmarks dropped sharply over the second quarter on reports about progress in the U.S.-Iranian peace talks, with futures traders largely ignoring the latest military exchanges by the warring parties.

The latest update on the talks comes from a senior Qatari government official, who said today they had produced “positive progress” but without elaborating on any details. This latest attempt at negotiations was conducted indirectly in Doha. There are still no signs lasting peace is in sight.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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