In response to claims made by some western media that Iran had long held 13 million barrels of oil on tankers at sea, Managing Director of Iran Oil Terminals Company (IOTC) Seyyed Pirouz Mousavi said currently no amount of crude oil is being stored on water near Persian Gulf terminals.
“The country currently enjoys a normal trend in oil exports and perceives no restrictions on transfer or shipment of crude from terminals located in the Persian Gulf,” underlined the official asserting that the volume of crude exports has been defined in accordance with OPEC quotas and will continue as such.
He also pointed to the triple rise in exports capacities and capabilities of the country’s oil industry in Kharg Oil Terminal as the largest oil terminal in the Persian Gulf; “simultaneous mooring of 10 giant oil tankers can now be carried out in Kharg terminal thanks to development of infrastructure in its harbors.”
“Over recent years, renovation, reconstruction and development of infrastructure at harbors of Kharg Oil Terminal has paved the path for berth of 10 vessels, reiterated Mousavi recalling that the figure previously stood at only three.
IOTC head went on to highlight that with removal of sanctions over the past year European and Asian oil tankers have entered Iranian oil terminals as well as that “mooring and deployment of tankers has become facilitated without incidents."
Reuters had previously claimed that Iran faced a struggle to increase oil exports because 12 to 14 of its tankers are tied up storing 13 million barrels of crude.