TEHRAN- Iranian heavy oil price increased $1.45 in January, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report published on Tuesday.

The country’s average heavy oil price was $56.29 in January, up 2.6 percent from $54.84 in December 2018.

According to the report, Iran produced 2.754 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in January, a 4,000 bpd decrease from 2.758 million bpd in December 2018.

The report put average Iranian crude output for the Q4 2018 at 3.004 million barrels per day indicating a near 600,000-bpd fall compared to the figure for Q3.

The country’s average heavy crude price was also reported to be $56.29 since beginning of 2019 up to the report’s publishing day.

Iranian oil industry has been under pressure from the U.S. efforts to isolate the country by reimposing sanctions.

The new round of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector were put in action on November 4, 2018.

However, soon after the sanctions took effect the U.S. government agreed to let eight countries, including close allies South Korea and Japan, as well as India, keep buying Iranian oil and it is expected that Iran’s oil exports will rise in February and March.

EF/MA