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Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Satellite Images Show Iran Racing to Get Its Oil Out
(Bloomberg) -- Iran is racing to get its oil out into the world, a sign of the unusual logistical steps that Tehran is undertaking as the US mulls joining Israel in bombing the Persian Gulf state. Security Concerns Hit Some of the World's 'Most Livable Cities' JFK AirTrain Cuts Fares 50% This Summer to Lure Riders Off Roads Taser-Maker Axon Triggers a NIMBY Backlash in its Hometown How E-Scooters Conquered (Most of) Europe NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports Oil is gushing out of the nation's ports and onto ocean-tankers, ensuring revenues would continue — at least for a while — if shipments are disrupted. Despite the surge, storage tanks at the nation's critical export terminal at Kharg Island are brimming with crude. Traders and investors are parsing every piece of data available to understand how oil from the Islamic Republic and the wider Gulf region will be affected as Israel pounds the country's nuclear sites, military and wider energy infrastructure. Satellite data offer at least part of the answer when it comes to Iran. Storage Tanks The oil storage sites at Kharg Island have floating roofs that rise and fall as they empty and fill, meaning it's possible to get clues from above as to just how much they're holding by examining their shadows. And what images from June 11 show is that, for almost all of the large tanks, the roofs were well below the top of the walls. In short, the reservoirs were only partly full. Fast forward by a week, and a photo from June 18, several days after Israel began its attacks, shows there are no such shadows, indicating that the roofs are now at the top of the walls and the reservoirs are brimming. There are still shadows cast by the tanks onto the ground beside them, confirming that the absence isn't due to a lack of sunshine. The images were taken less than 10 minutes apart at about 2:40 pm local time on their respective days with nearly the same sensor geometry. Samir Madani, co-founder of a firm that specializes in monitoring the clandestine oil trade of Iran and other nations using satellite imagery, confirmed that he also saw ' a rise in crude inventories at the island.' That's not what you'd expect, given that Iran has been driving up its exports. If the exports are well above normal, then storage tanks should be emptying — unless Iran is also directing even more crude into the facility. The inference, then, is that Iran is sending as much as possible to the global market while it can. Iran can store about 28 million barrels of crude at Kharg, according to a 2024 report from S&P Global Commodity Insights. Refurbishment of two 1 million barrel tanks was completed last month, but it's unclear whether they were included in the earlier capacity figure. Export Flows Iran's oil exports have spiked since the nation came under attack from Israel on Friday, according to Madani. It exported an average of 2.33 million barrels a day in the five days the attacks began June 13, according to data from That's an increase of 44% compared with the average for the year through to June 14. 'It seems very clear what they're doing,' Madani said of Iran's approach. 'They're trying to get out as many barrels they can but with safety as their number one priority.' Oil is held in closely packed storage tanks at Kharg, making it more vulnerable to attack than cargoes on ships dotted around the Persian Gulf or heading for China. Dispersed Tankers In another sign of Tehran's logistical response, vessels are staying far away from Kharg until the last possible moment before dashing to the terminal to load and spending as little time as possible at the terminal. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs from June 11, a few days before the first Israeli attack, shows tankers, most of them very large crude carriers, each able to hold about 2 million barrels, anchored in the sheltered waters between Kharg Island and the Iranian mainland. Comparison with earlier images shows this to be well within the normal range for the number of ships anchored there. In a second image, taken on June 17, four days after the first missiles hit Iran, all of the vessels have dispersed, leaving none at the anchorage sites near the island. The photos above show only the core area of the anchorage for visual clarity. They do not include tankers anchored further from the island. Iran adopted a similar strategy of dispersing waiting tankers when it previously came under Israeli attack in October. Then, too, it kept exports running without interruption. Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Zawya
a day ago
- Business
- Zawya
Iraq says oil exports unaffected by war
Iraq said on Wednesday its oil exports are flowing normally through Hormuz Straits despite the escalating mutual attacks between nearby Iran and Israel. Most of the crude exports by OPEC's second largest oil producer pass through Hormuz, which Iran has frequently threatened to block over the past years. Iraq produced just over four million barrels per day (bpd) in May and exported nearly 3.3 million bpd, mostly to China and India, according to the Iraqi Oil Ministry. 'Iraq's oil exports have not been affected by the conflict between Iran and Israel…I don't think they will be affected because they are far from the centre of the hostilities…Iraq's oil exports are still flowing out normally,' said Shada Al-Izzawi, a member of Iraqi parliament's oil and gas committee. 'The attacks by two countries against each other have not yet affected any oil site or export terminal in Iraq,' she told the official daily Alsabah. Izzawi did not make clear how Iraq will continue to export crude to the global market if Iran carries out its threat and shut Hormuz, a strategic narrow water way through which more than 18 million bpd pass, nearly a fifth of the world's oil consumption. But an Iraqi oil analyst said the Iran-Israel conflict should prompt Baghdad to reach agreement with the northern Kurdistan region to re-open the 970-km Kurkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which has an export capacity of nearly 400,000 bpd. 'Iraq should intensify efforts to reopen the Cayman pipeline to export an additional 400,000 through Turkey…this will give Iraq's crude exports more flexibility in case the conflict in the regional escalates further,' said Nabil Al-Marsoumi, an energy and economics professor at Basra university in South Iraq. Another well-known Iraqi expert, Hilal Al-Taan, told Shafaq news agency that Iraq's crude exports could be virtually come to a standstill if Hormuz is shut. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Iran's Oil Exports Soar as Israel Attack Prompts Cargo Clearout
Iran's oil exports have jumped since the nation came under attack from Israel on Friday, according to a firm that specializes in monitoring clandestine shipping. The Islamic Republic exported an average of 2.33 million barrels a day since June 13, according to data from That's an increase off 44% compared with the year through June 12. The lion's share of that oil comes from Kharg Island, home to a cluster of storage tanks that are critical infrastructure for Iran.
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Saudi borrowing failed to spur growth: analyst
Heavy borrowing by Saudi Arabia over the past few years has failed to spur economic growth because borrowed funds were mostly used to support current expenditure not projects, says a prominent analyst in the Gulf kingdom. A sharp rise in borrowing from domestic and global banks to fund the budget deficit boosted the Gulf country's debt-to-GDP ratio from only around 1.5 percent at the end of 2014 to nearly 29.9 percent at the end of 2024, said Saeed Al-Shaikh, a former member of Shura council (appointed parliament). Al-Shaikh, an ex-chief economist at the Saudi National Bank, said Saudi Arabia's GDP, the largest in the Arab world, has sharply fluctuated in the past period and recorded negative growth in some years due to its heavy reliance on unpredictable oil exports. 'Borrowing has had no evident impact on GDP growth, which continued to fluctuate as it shrank by 5.07 percent in 2020 and 2.93 percent in indicates that the stimulant effects of borrowing have remained limited because it has not been directed to long-term productive sectors but to cover current expenditure,' Al-Shaikh wrote in the Saudi Arabic language daily Maal (money) on Monday. Al-Shaikh said the private sector has outperformed the public sector over the past months, surging by around five percent in the first quarter of 2025 against an overall GDP growth of 1.06 percent. But he argued that such good performance was linked to high public spending, adding that this made it dependent on the government and unable to spearhead growth in the Kingdom when public revenues decline. Forecasts by the Riyadh-based Jadwa consultancy firm showed the Kingdom's public debt will swell to around 32 percent at the end of 2025 and 33.5 percent at the end of 2026 in line with government plans to borrow again to finance the shortfall. It estimated the debt at around 1.2 billion Saudi riyals ($320 billion) at the end of 2024 and is projected to rise to SAR1.34 billion ($357 billion) at the end of 2025 and nearly SAR1.47 billion ($392 billion) at the end of 2026. (Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
If Iran's Oil Is Cut Off, China Will Pay the Price
Israel hasn't attacked Iran's energy export hubs so far. If it does, China could find itself cut off from a flow of cheap oil. Iran exports around 1.7 million barrels of crude a day, less than 2% of global demand. The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Tehran's oil exports in late 2018, a few months after President Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal during his first term.
