NIOC Official Sees Iran Production Up at 3m to 3.2mb/d: FGE

Iran oil production may now stand at 3m to 3.2mb/d, with exports of 1.4mb/d said to an official at the National Iranian Oil Co. according to FGE. The official normal usually provides conservative estimates and is broadly in line August estimate according to FGE Middle East director Iman Nasseri.

• "It's already been six months, I think, since the Iranians were given unwritten confirmation that there won't be any further sanctions on the crude buyers for now. And that's probably what the Iranians have told their Chinese middlemen,” Nasseri said.
• Rising Chinese demand for competitively priced Iranian crude this year is another driver of surging oil exports from Iran. Sanctioned Russian crude has become more expensive in recent weeks and months as its discount against the Brent benchmark has narrowed.
• "These factors have together encouraged buyers, by giving them more risk appetite and more economic incentive to up their game," Nasseri added.
• Iranian crude cargoes delivered to China have been selling at discounts to Brent as wide as $10-$12/bbl compared with discounts on Russian cargoes delivered to China of as little as $1-$2/bbl.