Iranian Oil Exports End 2022 At A High, Despite No Nuclear Deal

LONDON, Jan 15 - Iranian oil exports hit new highs in the last two months of 2022 and are making a strong start to 2023 despite U.S. sanctions, according to companies that track the flows, on higher shipments to China and Venezuela. Tehran's oil exports have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited a 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran's government. Consultant Petro-Logistics, which tracks oil supply, said it was also seeing an upward trend in Iranian crude exports which, in its view, in December reached their highest level since March 2019. Kpler, a data intelligence firm, put Iranian crude exports at 1.23 million bpd in November, the highest since August 2022 and almost on a par with April 2019's rate of 1.27 million bpd, although they slipped to just below 1 million bpd in December. The Iranian oil ministry did not respond to a request for comment on exports. MORE TO CHINA. There is no definitive figure for Iranian oil exports and estimates often fall into a wide range. Following Trump's removal of the United States from the nuclear deal and reimposition of sanctions, Iran's crude exports fell back to as little as 100,000 bpd at times in 2020 from over 2.5 million bpd in 2018, according to tanker trackers.