Iran oil exports hit pre-sanctions high - RTRS

Reuters quoted two sources familiar to the matter earlier on the day, noting that Iran's total crude oil and condensate sales likely reached around 2.8 million barrels per day in September, nearly matching a 2011 peak in shipments before sanctions were imposed on the OPEC producer.

Key Headlines via Reuters:

The run-up from shipments of around 2.5 million bpd in August comes mainly from condensate, a light oil excluded from OPEC supply quotas that is often produced with natural gas and can be used to make naphtha for petrochemical production.

Iran sold 600,000 bpd of condensate for September - up from about 350,000 bpd in August and including about 100,000 bpd shipped from storage - to meet robust demand in Asia. September crude exports increased slightly from the previous month to about 2.2 million bpd, they said.

Iran, along with Libya and Nigeria, is allowed to produce "at maximum levels that make sense" as part of any output limits in a surprise deal reached last week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).