Oil and gas, Iran's strategic assets - The role of the US and China in Tehran's exports
Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps about 3.3 million barrels of oil per day, or about 3% of global output. Iran's oil production peaked in the 1970s with a record 6 million barrels per day in 1974, according to OPEC data. That accounted for more than 10% of world output at the time.
In 1979, the United States imposed the first wave of sanctions on Tehran, and since then the country has been the target of several waves of US and European Union sanctions.
The United States tightened sanctions in 2018 after Trump withdrew from a nuclear deal during his first term as president. Iran's oil exports fell to almost zero within months.
But those exports increased significantly under Trump's successor, President Joe Biden, with analysts saying sanctions were less enforced and Iran had managed to evade them. Tehran is exempt from OPEC+ production limits.
Who is the main buyer of Iranian oil?
Iran's crude oil exports have risen to a multi-year high of 1.8 million barrels per day in recent months, the highest since 2018, driven by strong Chinese demand.
Beijing says it does not recognize the sanctions against its trading partners. The main buyers of Iranian oil are private Chinese refiners, some of which were recently placed on the US Treasury sanctions list. However, there is little evidence that this has significantly affected flows from Iran to China.
Tehran has evaded sanctions for years through ship transfers and concealing the satellite positions of these facilities.
Production and infrastructure
Consulting firm FGE says Iran refines about 2.6 million barrels of crude oil per day and exports 2.6 million barrels per day. The country also produces 34 billion cubic meters of gas per day, according to FGE, which accounts for 7% of global production. All of that volume is consumed domestically.
Iran's hydrocarbon production facilities are concentrated mainly in the southwest, in Khuzestan Province for oil and Bushehr Province for gas. The country exports 90% of its crude oil via Kharg Island.
Analysts say Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members could offset the drop in Iranian supply by using their spare capacity to pump more. Although with a number of producers within the group currently raising production targets, their spare capacity is becoming more limited.
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