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Adding land-based storage may give Iran more flexibility to maintain oil output

Oil&Gas Materials 27 November 2012 18:10 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 27 / Trend A.Badalova /

Adding land-based storage may give Iran more flexibility to maintain oil output as sanctions against country have caused considerable variability in purchases in 2012, the analysts of the large U.S. bank JP Morgan said in its Global Commodities Research.

"Tanker tracking indicates that Iran has reduced the volume of crude held in floating storage, as it is using its own tankers to deliver crude to buyers unable to secure tanker insurance under EU sanctions," analysts said.

JP Morgan analysts mentioned that China's oil imports from Iran have varied between 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 640,000 bpd in 2012, versus a more consistent import profile in 2011, where monthly intake was within a 200 kbd range.

"These wide swings could continue, as China's purchases come up for review in December for a waiver extension from US sanctions," analysts said.

The EU sanctions against Iran have prevented European insurers from dealing with Iranian tankers, and this has severely affected Iran's export, as without cover, its tanker cannot deliver oil. It has lost all of its European customers, and other international customers have drastically reduced their purchases.

According to the International Energy Agency's latest estimates, Iranian exports increased to 1.3 million bpd from 1 million in the previous two months with the large share of China and South Korea's imports. Iranian oil output, according to the agency's estimates, increased by around 70,000 bpd to 2.7 million bpd in October.

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