TEHRAN- Iranian heavy oil price increased $2.78 in March, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report published on Tuesday.

According to the report, Iran produced 2.698 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in March, a 28,000 bpd decrease from 2.726 million bpd in the preceding month.
The report put average Iranian crude output for the Q1 2019 at 2.714 million barrels per day indicating a near 264,000-bpd fall compared to the figure for Q4 2018.
The country’s average heavy crude price was also reported to be $60.53 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.
The waivers expire around May 4 and Iranian oil buyers including India, Japan, and South Korea are trying to convince the U.S. government to get another round of exemption from U.S. sanctions to be able to keep buying Iranian oil.
Earlier on Tuesday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the Asian country is negotiating with the United States for extending the sanctions waiver on Iranian oil imports.
Platts also quoted a Japanese official on Wednesday that japan is seeking to get exempted from the sanctions for the second time.
EF/MA