Azerbaijan , Baku, Feb. 22 / Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Iran has over 20 million barrels of unsold crude oil stored on tankers in the Persian Gulf, shipping sources said this week, Platts website reported.
"We are seeing over 20 million barrels of Iranian crude in floating storage, possibly 25 million barrels," one source said, adding that the figures did not include condensates.
Another shipping source said that close to 20 very large crude carriers belonging to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) fleet, were currently being used for floating storage because of difficulties by Iran selling its crude oil as a result of tighter restrictions on its banking sector.
With close to 40 million barrels in floating storage, around 70 percent of the NITC's very large crude carrier (VLCC) fleet is being used to store crude.
The shipping sources said that the newly built VLCC Sifa, which joined the NITC fleet in January, was also being used for storage duty.
NITC has 29 VLCCs along with nine Suezmaxes and five Aframax tankers in its fleet.
"My understanding is that about 16 or 18 VLCCs are doing storage for domestic production namely for NIOC," one source said, referring to the National Iranian Oil Co." a VLCC broker said.
The buildup in storage mirrors the situation in December, when Iran had up to 20 million barrels of crude oil and condensates in floating storage as its term buyers reduced purchasing volumes citing high official selling prices set by NIOC and difficulties making payment because of international restrictions on transactions with several Iranian banks.
Iran produced 3.66 million b/d in January, according to the Platts survey of OPEC's production. It exported an average 2.2-2.3 million b/d in 2010.
Most Western firms have exited Iran following sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme.
Iran is the second largest crude exporter in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, and it holds the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia.