TEHRAN – Iran’s oil exports have increased by 40 percent in recent months and the oil, gas, condensate and oil products export revenues are expected to reach $35 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), Shana reported on Sunday.

According to Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi, the country has received the payment for all its crude oil sales since the new government administration and the Oil Ministry has no unsettled oil dues.

Based on official data, the Iranian crude oil export revenues amounted to $18.677 billion in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22, 2021), while the figure was only $8.855 billion in the previous year’s same six months.

The country’s crude oil exports in the first half of the current year increased by 118 percent compared to the figure for the same period in the previous year, while the non-oil exports also rose by 50 percent.

Back in December 2021, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji said the country’s oil sales in the current Iranian calendar year have increased drastically compared to the previous year.

“The Oil Ministry has published a report on the oil sales as well as the exports of natural gas and petrochemical products over the past 100 days, according to which the figures have increased drastically compared to last year,” Oji said.

Later that month, Bloomberg reported that China increased imports of Iranian crude during November 2021 after independent refiners were granted additional import quotas for 2021.

Citing market intelligence firm Kpler, the report said China imported about 18 million barrels of Iranian crude oil in the mentioned month, equivalent to about 600,000 barrels a day.

In a meeting with the members of the Parliament Energy Committee in mid-November 2021, Oji had said that new windows have been opened for the country’s oil sales using the existing capacities and the ministry had achieved new successes in this regard.

Also in September 2021, the minister had said his ministry was determined to increase the country’s oil exports despite the U.S. sanctions, adding that the use of oil sanctions as a “political tool” would harm the market.

“There is a strong will in Iran to increase oil exports despite the unjust and illegal U.S. sanctions; I promise that good things will happen regarding Iran’s oil sales in the coming months,” Oji told the national TV.

EF/MA