Iran has lost about $ 100 billion in oil revenues since 2018 due to US sanctions that have hampered sales. This was stated by Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangane.
Losses have been piling up since mid-2018, when the US government abandoned an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program and imposed sanctions on Tehran.
The decline in crude oil sales has forced the Iranian government to change the way it finances its day-to-day operations, as well as projects needed to develop infrastructure in the country, the minister said.
The dependence on oil revenues dropped to 10% in the annual budget passed by the government for the calendar year until March 2021, down from 42% in 2012-13.
Iran’s oil sales were the main target of the draconian sanctions imposed by the United States in May 2018, Iran.ru specifies. Exports fell to their lowest levels when Washington tightened bans a year later, lifting exemptions granted to some buyers of Iranian oil in Asia.
However, crude oil shipments from Iran increased in the second half of 2020 as the country found innovative ways to circumvent US sanctions on the sale of its oil.
This came despite a severe crisis that has gripped international markets since the beginning of last year, when the spread of the coronavirus hit fuel demand and plunged oil prices.
source: angi.ru
