Minister of Oil Rustam Qassemi0640 GMT: Speaking on Sunday, Minister of Oil Rustam Qassemi put out another of his all-is-well declarations over the state of Iran's production and exports.On this occasion, however, there was a difference. For the first time, Qassemi admitted that not all was well earlier this year: “Following the imposition of these sanctions, we were in bad condition for two months, [but] we’ve managed to weather that dire strait and…today we can export crude oil [again].”
Qassemi was referring to the wave of sanctions this summer, notably the European Union's ban on 1 July on imports from the Islamic Republic and restrictions on Iranian shipping: “No vessel was authorised to sail towards Iran....Moreover, crude oil tankers were denied insurance coverage at that time.”
Since July, Tehran has claimed that it has reached alternate insurance arrangements, including the provision of Iranian coverage and "sovereign" insurance by countries like Japan.
Although no numbers are given in the Press TV report, Qassemi was likely referring to a rebound in October's export figures. Iran --- which shipped 2.2 million barrels per day in 2011 --- recovered to 1.3 million after falling as low as 860,000 during the summer.
The Minister almost certainly did not refer to evidence that the recovery is likely to be short-lived, the outcome of a "bubble" of filled contracts, or industry projections that Tehran will hit a historic low in December with exports of only 824,000 barrels per day.
Posted via email from lissping
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