Iran ups oil exports to Asian buyers

Iran’s oil exports to its top four Asian customers increased by 17.2 percent in February from a year ago, media reports said. Iran’s four biggest buyers -- China, India, Japan and South Korea -- bought 1.37 million barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude, up from 1.17 million bpd a year ago, Reuters reported. China, Iran's biggest oil customer, lifted its Iranian oil imports by 6 percent to more than 552,000 bpd last month. South Korea also doubled its crude imports from Iran to over 290,000 bpd. Iranian imports by Japan rose 21.7 percent to 260,820 bpd in February, while Iran’s oil exports to India declined 8.7 percent to around 266,000 bpd. Iran's crude oil exports have been rising over the past months ever since Tehran reached a breakthrough deal with six world powers over its nuclear energy program last November. Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) signed the Geneva deal on November 24, 2013. The two sides started to implement the agreement on January 20, 2014. Under the Geneva agreement, the six countries agreed to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.