As the U.S. maritime blockade continues, Iran reportedly did not load a single barrel of oil onto tankers last month.
According to Yonhap News on October 1, Bloomberg reported in its preliminary estimates tracking tanker movements that Iran's oil shipments for September were recorded at '0.' Data from analytics firms Kpler and Vortex corroborated this finding.
In stark contrast to the previous month, when Iran's oil shipments averaged about 250,000 barrels per day in August, September marked the first month since the war began in February that saw no shipments at all.
Bloomberg analyzed that Iran is losing both the capacity and willingness to export oil amid the U.S. blockade of Persian Gulf ports.
Iran's primary revenue source, exports to China, are also under threat. The U.S. has imposed sanctions targeting third countries that engage in trade with Iran, making it increasingly difficult for Iran to continue selling oil to China.
Last month, Iran supplied some oil to Chinese refineries using reserves from a floating storage facility located east of Singapore. However, with shipments halted in September, there is no additional supply to replenish these reserves. Yonhap News predicts that this stockpile will not last long.
The reported figures are based on preliminary estimates derived from satellite imagery. Many Iranian tankers turn off their location signals shortly after departure and only reactivate them after about two weeks, once they reach areas near the Strait of Malacca or the Suez Canal.
The conflict between the U.S. and Iran has now entered its eighth month without any signs of resolution.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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