Iran oil income up 35% y/y in 2022 to $54bn: EIA

A report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the main energy data agency of the US government, has confirmed that Iran earned more from crude oil exports last year compared to 2021 despite Washington’s sanctions targeting Iranian oil trade.

The EIA data on oil exports by the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC), updated on June 28 and cited in reports by Iranian news agencies on Saturday, showed that total revenues collected by Iran from oil exports in 2022 had amounted to 54 billion, up 35% from oil sale figures reported by the country in 2021.

The data showed that Iran had remained the fifth largest oil exporter in OPEC in 2022.

The country sold some $18 billion worth of crude oil in the five months to May 2023, according to the data.

The figures come as Iran’s oil exports have been subject to an unprecedented regime of US sanctions since 2018, when Washington pulled out of an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program and imposed sanctions on Tehran.

Iranian oil sales have picked up since the second half of 2022 with higher supplies to private buyers in China, according to statements by Iranian government authorities and reports by international tanker tracking services.

The rise has been viewed as a major success for Iran and its policy of resisting US sanctions.

Latest reports suggest Iranian oil exports are nearing an average of nearly 2 million barrels per day (bpd), up from an average of 1 million bpd reported over the second half of 2022 and a major rise from record lows of around 300,000 bpd seen after the US government toughened its sanctions on Iran in May 2019.

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