TEHRAN – Iranian exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) reached 382,000 metric tons (mt) in February, S&P Global Platts reported citing shipping sources.

As reported, the mentioned sources have maintained their predictions of Iran’s LPG exports reaching six million mt in 2022.

According to the sources, the shipments in the mentioned month included six cargoes of 33,000 mt propane and 11,0000 mt butane, two 44,000 mt evenly split parcels, a 22,000 mt lot of either propane or butane, a parcel of 3,000 mt propane, and 1,000 mt butane, a 4,000 mt evenly split parcel (all loading from Asaluyeh) and a 44,000 mt cargo of either propane or butane loading at Siraf Port.

In January, the Islamic Republic had shipped seven cargoes comprising 33,000 mt of propane and 11,000 mt butane, two 44,000 mt evenly split cargoes, a cargo comprising 15,000 mt of propane and 8,000 mt butane, a cargo comprising 10,000 mt of propane and 12,000 mt butane, a 4,000 mt evenly split parcel from Asaluyeh and a 20,000 cargo of either propane or butane loading from Siraf Port.

Shipments in December 2021 totaled 531,000 mt, while loadings in November stood at 539,500 mt. Exports in 2021 peaked in September around 556,000 mt, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier.

Siraf Port in the central district of Kangan County, in southern Bushehr province, was officially inaugurated in September 2021 after undergoing trial operations in February that year.

Iran’s LPG exports mostly go to China despite the U.S. sanctions, facilitated by Chinese shipowners who have developed an armada of very large gas carriers since sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2014 and then in 2018, trade and shipping sources said.

The Islamic Republic’s LPG exports could be higher without the restrictions that international shipping and trading firms face due to the sanctions related to the oil producer's nuclear program and allow Iranian exporters to resume access to the global VLGC fleet, sources said.

Analysts have said Iran is expected to boost exports by 1.9 million mt in 2022.

According to Mohsen Khojasteh-Mehr, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Iran aims to bring onstream 130 million cubic meters per day (cm/d) of additional gas production capacity in 2022, including gas from the delayed phase 11 of the offshore South Pars field and emergency onshore operations.

Expecting a nuclear agreement could be reached shortly, Lim Jit Yang, S&P Global Commodity Insights advisor for oil markets also said their reference case assumes a full return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will trigger full sanctions relief by May which could boost Iranian oil production by 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) by August, plus 300,000 bpd of exports from storage.

EF/MA