Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 31 / Trend A.Badalova/
Iran's crude oil exports amounted to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2012 compared to 2.3 million bpd in 2011, according to the estimates of Global Energy Studies Centre (CGES).
CGES's estimates show that Iran exported only slightly more than 1 million bpd in the second half of last year.
"Iran's oil exports were hit hard in the second half of 2012 by the tough new sanctions imposed by the US and the EU, targeting the country's oil trade, CGES's report said. Although shipments picked up towards the end of the year, as Tehran and its Asian customers found ways around the EU ban on the insurance of vessels carrying Iranian oil, total crude oil exports were still well below year-earlier levels."
According to the CGES's estimates, aggregate OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) imports of Iranian oil in the second half of 2012 were down 70 percent from their average level in the second half of 2011.
Export to Iran's major non-OECD customers was also down significantly in the second half of 2012 compared with the same period of 2011, with aggregate deliveries to China, India, South Africa and Taiwan down by almost 30 percent, CGES said.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Iranian Central Bank.
U.S. sanctions entered into force on June 28, while EU bans on Iranian oil imports came into force on July 1.
In October, the EU approved another major package of economic sanctions on Iran.