Iran's oil exports steady despite sanctions – Iran OPEC Governor

Iran’s OPEC Governor Mohammad-Ali Khatibi has said the oil exports of Iran have remained steady in recent months despite sanctions. The International Energy Agency (IEA) had earlier said in a report that Iran's oil exports fell to 860,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September. The figure was 2.2 million bpd in December 2011.

Dismissing the IEA report, Khatibi said Iran's oil exports are the same as previous months and the situation is stable.  Khatibi denied that Iran's oil buyers are limited to few countries. Khatibi, who is also the director of the National Iranian Oil Company, said Iran's oil exports are at their normal level and are unaffected by Western embargoes.

The UN Security Council imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran between 2006 and 2010 over its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which Western countries suspect could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The U.S and European Union have imposed and expanded sanctions of their own over the years despite Tehran's insistence on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.

The EU imposed an oil embargo on Tehran on July 1, and is mulling over another round of sanctions on Iran's natural gas exports to the block.

We were misled to reflag Iranian ships - Tanzania

Tanzania said a shipping agent based in Dubai had reflagged 36 Iranian oil tankers with the Tanzanian flag without the country's knowledge and approval. Tanzania said it was now in the process of de-registering the vessels after an investigation into the origin of the ships concluded they were originally from Iran. Tanzania launched an investigation over accusations that it had reflagged oil tankers from Iran and asked the United States and European Union to help it verify the origin of the tankers flying the east African country's flag.

Howard Berman, the ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, had accused Tanzania of reflagging at least six and possibly as many at 10 tankers, saying it was helping Iran evade U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to curb its nuclear program. He said Tanzania could face U.S. sanctions for the practice.

Re-flagging ships masks their ownership, which could make it easier for Iran to obtain insurance and financing for the cargoes, as well as find buyers for the shipments without attracting attention from the United States and European Union.

 The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) changed the names and flags of many of its oil tankers ahead of the EU ban, part of sweeping economic measures aimed at pressuring Tehran to end its nuclear program.

The ships flying Tanzania's flag were re-flagged by Zanzibar, which has claimed it was misled by its Dubai-based agent, Philtex, and would end its contract with that firm.