Iran Oil Production, Exports Not Impacted by Protests
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Iran's crude oil production and exports have not been impacted by the unrest spreading across the country, Iranian oil and shipping sources said on Tuesday, as a crackdown intensified against anti-government demonstrations that began last week.
Iran, OPEC's third-biggest oil producer, pumps around 3.8 million barrels per day.
"I see no impact on the production and export," one Iranian oil industry source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Everything is going normally," another source said, adding that the protests had not spread into the energy sector and "remained in the streets".
Nine Iranians were killed in Isfahan province during anti-government protests on Monday night as security forces struggled to contain the boldest challenge to the clerical leadership since unrest in 2009.
Police have arrested more than 450 protesters in the capital Tehran over the past three days, the deputy provincial governor said.
Protesters also attacked police stations elsewhere in Iran late into the night on Monday, news agency and social media reports said.
(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; editing by Jason Neely)