Total estimated export volume on Aframaxes, Suezmaxes and VLCCs from Iranian ports in August rose almost 2.5% to 2.42 million b/d from 2.37 million b/d in July, according to data from Platts trade flow software cFlow.
Exports to Asia fell to 1.46 million b/d in August from 1.55 million b/d in July, with demand from key customer India down sharply, although flows to China continued to rise.
Europe's share of Iranian exports grew sharply, with demand from Italy, France, the Netherlands and Greece all up, while Turkey remained a key buyer too.
Sources and analysts noted that Iranian oil exports last month rose as demand for its crude, especially in China and Europe, climbed, supported by favorable economics.
Moves by Saudi Arabia and Iraq to further reduce their exports in August, both to meet domestic demand and also as part of OPEC's coordinated output cuts, bode well for Iran.
The reductions have created a gap for Iran to fill, while state-owned NIOC has also reduced prices for some if its heavy crude grades, making them more economically viable for refiners and pushing up spot demand.
Sources added that Iran's additional exports came from its onshore storage, not necessarily only from additional production.
Flows to China, Europe climb
Exports to Iran's largest customer, China, were up slightly to 693,419 b/d in August from 638,322 b/d, the highest volume Iran has exported to China this year, according to Platts data.
Chinese consumption has increased this summer on healthy spot demand, buoyed by growing interest from both Chinese state-owned and independent refiners. Chinese companies have seen cuts in their term contract volumes from Saudi Aramco in the past few months, pushing up demand for Iranian crude, which is of a similar quality.
Meanwhile, Iranian oil flows to Europe rebounded sharply in August, with 835,742 b/d sailing to the region, a rise of almost 200,000 b/d month on month.
Turkey remains the region's largest buyer of Iranian crude, with 256,258 b/d exported last month.
Exports to Italy, France, the Netherlands and Greece were all up month on month, demonstrating the price competitiveness of Iranian crude against other regional sour grades, like Russia's Urals, Iraq's Basrah Light and Saudi Arabia's Arab Heavy.
Production boost
Iran's oil production has also continued to rise in the past few months and is now above its OPEC quota of 3.797 million b/d.
According to a recent Platts OPEC survey, Iranian crude oil production was at 3.83 million b/d in August, up 10,000 b/d from July.
The country's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh also confirmed earlier this week that production was more than 3.8 million b/d.
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