Iran started exporting condensate \u2014 a form of ultra light oil \u2014 from two newly launched phases of its giant South Pars Gas Field to Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Terminals Company (NIOTC<\/a><\/strong>) Pirouz Mousavi was quoted by Press TV as saying that the Japan-bound consignment contained 160,000 barrels of condensate from South Pars phases 20 and 21.<\/p>\n He added that a 300-ton Japanese vessel had lifted the consignment from phases 20 and 21 as well as another from phases 2, 3, 4 and 5.<\/p>\n He did not specify how much had been loaded from other phases but it could stand at several hundred of thousands of barrels.<\/p>\n Mousavi added that the vessel \u2014 named ‘Fujikawa’ \u2014 was also to load 650,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran’s Forouzan oilfield before leaving for Japan<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Iran announced in December that it was already expanding the market for its condensate, which can be used to make both fuel and plastic.<\/p>\n Masoud Hassani, the managing director of South Pars<\/a> Gas <\/a><\/strong>Complex, told the domestic media at the time that the country had sent its first cargo of one million barrels of condensate to Europe.<\/p>\n In September, indications grew that condensate had already found a special position in Iran’s exports.<\/p>\n The media quoted officials as saying at the time that exports of the ultra-light oil over a period of five months from March 21, 2016 stood at above seven million tons, showing an increase of 76 percent compared to the figure for the same period last year.<\/p>\n South Korea is a key importer of Iran’s condensate. In June, Reuters reported that the country’s imports of condensate from Iran could reach a record level of six million barrels \u2014 or 200,000 barrels a day – over the month.<\/p>\n