Iran Kharg Island oil exports continue at 1.4mn bpd, as US set to unfreeze sanctions on oil tankers

Iran's oil exports from the Kharg Island terminal have continued at between 1.1mn and 1.5mn barrels per day despite US strikes on the facility, with tanker tracking data showing no significant disruption to loadings, Iranian media reported on March 19, citing data from Kpler and other energy intelligence firms.

The continued flow suggests that the core export infrastructure at Kharg, Iran's most important crude terminal handling the vast majority of the country's seaborne shipments, has not suffered critical damage despite earlier US strikes on the island.

Millions of barrels have been loaded and dispatched to Asian buyers, primarily China, in recent days, the report said. Satellite data and field evidence indicate that the main terminals and loading berths remain operational.

The US struck Kharg Island earlier in the conflict, raising concerns that Iran's primary revenue lifeline could be severed. However, the data points to a more limited impact than initially feared.

Energy analysts said the continuation of Iranian exports has helped prevent an even sharper shock to global oil markets, which are already under severe strain from the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

Iran has also expanded the use of storage capacity outside the Persian Gulf, including at the Jask terminal on the Gulf of Oman, to manage geopolitical risk and maintain export routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran has relied on its shadow tanker fleet and informal export channels to sustain shipments under wartime conditions, building on networks developed over years of US sanctions enforcement.

US to seize Kharg island and unfreeze sanctions on Iranian oil 

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington could release sanctioned Iranian oil cargoes already at sea to ease global supply pressure, in what would amount to using Tehran's own crude exports against it, he told Fox Business on March 19.

The remarks represent the most explicit acknowledgement yet from the Trump administration that the war is straining global energy markets and that unconventional measures are being considered to contain oil prices.

"At Treasury, we unsanctioned Russian oil, so we anticipated this, we knew this could be a temporary chokepoint," Bessent said. "In the coming days we may unsanction the Iranian oil on the water."

He said roughly 140mn barrels of Iranian crude were currently in transit or held in floating storage, mostly destined for China. Releasing those cargoes would provide 10 days to two weeks of additional supply.

"In essence we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign," Bessent said.

The Treasury secretary also signalled that the US was eyeing Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal as a potential strategic prize, saying he would explore whether it "would become a US asset." Kharg handles the vast majority of Iran's seaborne crude exports, which tanker tracking data shows have continued at between 1.1mn and 1.5mn barrels per day despite US strikes on the facility.

Bessent said the Iranian "regime is in collapse" and that the US was beginning to see defections from within Iran's leadership. He added that the Treasury knew the locations of Iranian leaders' bank accounts.

Brent crude was trading near $103 per barrel on March 19, down from a peak above $105 earlier in the week but well above pre-war levels of around $70.