“Following the removal of sanctions, new players have emerged in the mix,” VesselsValue said in a report. Iran’s crude oil shipments have been delivered to destinations ranging from Malaysia and Singapore in Asia to Syria in Africa, it said, according to Platts.

In 2016, the number of voyages to deliver crude from Iran to France was estimated at 21, while Italy, Greece and Spain took 15, 14 and 13 shipments respectively, it said. This includes shipments in VLCC, Suezmaxes and Aframaxes.

In July 2012, the European Union had banned the import of Iranian crude by member countries and also the provisions of EU-linked insurance, which included protection and indemnity cover for any shipments of Iranian crude, irrespective of destination. The sanctions were relaxed in January last year.

There has also been a significant change in the geographical mix of owners whose ships were used to lift Iranian cargoes of crude.

Prior to the lifting of sanctions, the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) was the largest provider of tonnage to load cargoes from Iran, in addition to Iran-o Hind, Idemitsu Tanker, JX Ocean and KLine.

The Iranian ships were provided local insurance cover but there were always concerns over the possibility of any potential liability in event of maritime accidents in waters of importing countries which were permitted to purchase crude from Tehran.

During the period of sanctions, India permitted Iranian ships to call at Indian ports based on Tehran’s local insurance cover, China used ships of domestic companies while the Japanese government provided insurance cover only for VLCCs.

South Korea and Taiwan also took deliveries of cargoes purchased on a cost and freight (CFR) basis.

Now, “the group of shipowners lifting crude from Iran has changed dramatically to include those from Greece and Belgium”, VesselsValue said.

“The influx of owners from Greece has significantly increased the number of Suezmaxes plying on the ex-Iran voyages to 81 last year, compared with 15 in 2015,” the report said.

While NITC continues to be the market leader in terms of the number of ships deployed for loading crude from Iran, other companies with ships loading from the country include Dynacom, Delta Tankers, Euronav, Polembros, COSCO, Avin International, Olympic Shipping and Management, New Shipping and Thenamaris, it said.

Last month, two Iranian VLCCs, the ‘Huge’ and the ‘Snow’ delivered a mix of the country’s heavy and light crude grades to Shell at Rotterdam, according to trade sources and S&P Global Platts.

In late January, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the country was producing 3.9 mbd crude and was set to reach its 4 mbd target by the end of the Iranian year on March 20.

This will mark the return of Iran’s output to levels last seen before 2012, when international sanctions were imposed on the country.

A Platts survey released on February 6 estimated Iranian production at 3.72 mbd in January, up 30,000 bpd from December.

While cuts in crude production have been initiated under an OPEC-led agreement, Iran is allowed to boost its output to 3.797 mbd. If this materializes, Iran’s output would exceed its OPEC quota by more than 100,000 bpd.

This is expected to translated into more crude shipments from Iran. According to VesselsValue, the seaborne exports of Iranian crude are rising significantly.

The number of crude laden shipments from Iran increased to 563 last year — up from 66 in 2012 and 277 in 2015, their data showed.

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Dwi Soetjipto, the chief executive officer of the state-owned Pertamina oil and gas corporation, was quoted by media as saying that that the projected imports from Iran would be provided to the Cilacap refinery in Indonesia’s Central Java province.

“We will try to bring in .. for the Cilacap refinery about 1 million barrels for experiment. When we know the result, the yield, then we could negotiate for the long term,” Soetjipto was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The announcement comes on the heels of a visit to Iran by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo last week.

During President Widodo’s stay in Tehran, Iran and Indonesia signed over a dozen basic agreements to promote cooperation in a variety of areas such as banking, food and agriculture, oil and gas as well as general trade.

A key agreement was one for selling more than 500,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Iran to Indonesia in 2017.

Iran also expressed its commitment to invest in Indonesia by building an oil refinery in East Java and a 5,000-megawatt mobile power plant in an unspecified location, the Jakarta Post reported.

Both countries also explored the possibility of teaming up to operate Iran’s Ab-Teymour and Mansouri in the country’s southwestern oil-rich province of Khouzestan.

The current annual level of Iran’s exports to Indonesia stands at around $74 million while the imports stand at about $83 million, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.

Both countries have already announced serious plans to boost the level of their trade to as high as $2 billion.

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Describing new plans to boost crude output in the Persian Gulf, Technical Director of Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) Manoochehr Davoodi said given the overhaul of a number of offshore wells in Ilam platform at Siri Oil field, a total of 10 thousand barrels will be added to daily production of oil in the region.

“Meanwhile, the volume of natural platform in the southern Iranian field will be increased by about 5 to 10 million cubic feet,” he continued.

Davoodi went on to note that the uplift in Iran’s crude oil output in the Persian Gulf comes after 16 years given that seabed issues had made it impossible to install drilling rigs.

The official said overhaul of the oil well aimed to provide LNG feedstock to Siri complex recalling “in the present week, Pasargad 100 Jackup, as the third domestically-constructed rig used by IOOC, will be set up on a platform in Ilam field.”

“Two drilling rigs will be put to operation in order to drill and overhaul a total of seven wells in the offshore Iranian field,” underscored Davoodi.

IOOC technical director went on to emphasize that drilling and overhaul processes of remaining wells will be accomplished in the near future.

Siri island is situated about 72 kilometers off the coastal line in the south of Bandar Lengeh Port and 40 kilometers to the west of Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf.

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Seyyed Mohsen Ghamsari, Executive Director for International Affairs at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), made the remarks adding “presently, the average volume of oil exports to Asian countries stands at more than 600 thousand barrels per day.”

He further touched upon recent crude sails to small Chinese refineries noting “these figures are excluded from overall statistics since small firms purchase products through spot contracts.”

The official also said the volume of the country’s crude exports will rise by 150 to 300 thousand barrels by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (began March 20); “nearly 62 per cent of Iranian crude is being deployed to Asian markets while the rest ends up in Europe and the proportion will remain constant in case of any upsurge in export figures.”

China remained largest buyer of Iranian crude during sanction years enjoying 40 per cent of the share (equal to 400 thousand barrels per day) in Iran’s crude exports.

Iran is presently exporting 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day but the figure could be well increased to 2.35 million barrels.

Ghamsari had previously said Iran is presently exporting 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day but the figure could be well increased to 2.35 million barrels.

On the crude oil exports to Europe, he said that 600 to 650 barrels of crude oil is exported to Europe per day.

Iran has announced the plan to increase its oil output to four million barrels per day by the end of the present year while the current figure stands at about 3.85 million barrels.

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