Iranian crude loadings have fallen to about one-seventh of their pre-war level under the US naval blockade, while Chinese receipts of Iranian oil and fuel exports have also dropped sharply, tanker-tracking data reviewed by Iran International shows.
Data from commodities intelligence firm Kpler shows Iran has loaded an average of about 287,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude so far this month, compared with roughly 2 million bpd before the Middle East war.
China, meanwhile, has received an average of just 523,000 bpd of Iranian crude so far this month. That compares with an average of about 800,000 bpd over the previous two months and more than 1.7 million bpd at the beginning of the war.
The United States reimposed a maritime blockade against the Islamic Republic in mid-July. As a result, more than 40 million barrels of Iranian oil stored on tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman have become effectively trapped, Kpler estimates.
Iran has stored 83 million barrels of oil outside the blockade zone, including 43 million barrels in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea. But with China sharply reducing its purchases, Tehran could run out of oil available for delivery to China in roughly five months if the current export rate persists.