Iran unfazed by oil sanctions

TEHRAN,Feb.29(MNA)--Iran does not feel the pain of Western sanctions on its oil revenues, as the 17% gain in crude prices since December has largely offset the decline in exports, according to the Gulf Times. Ian Taylor, the head of the world’s top oil trader Vitol, said the Iranians are “probably quite close to winning” based on the current numbers. Iran has so far lost about 500,000 bpd of exports, roughly a fifth of its total, based on information from refiners and other officials. The bulk of this is due to a halving of the 700,000 barrels that Europe buys, with the rest coming from cuts by China, Japan and other Asian buyers. Assuming an oil price of $100, Iran would earn about $250mn a day on its prior export levels of 2.5mn barrels a day. If the volume of exports has dropped to 2mn barrels, but the price has risen to around $120 a barrel, Iran’s revenue has only slipped to about $240mn a day—in other words, not really enough to make much of a difference. However, assuming Europe makes good on its pledge to completely cut off Iranian imports, then Iran could lose a further 350,000 bpd, currently worth $42mn. The average price for Iranian crude oil for delivery to Asian markets hit $124.37 per barrel on Friday, Shana news agency reported. Iran has so far cut oil supplies to Britain and France, the architects of oil sanctions against Iran by the European Union. Other EU states may be on the list. The oil cut has sent the price of benchmark crudes through the roof.