Iran’s Jask oil terminal, situated outside the Persian Gulf, can export up to 1mn barrel of crude per day (bpd), a former official at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was quoted as saying by Tahlil Bazaar on October 20, amid reports of a rare shipment from the port.

According to data from the Belgian commodity tracking group Kpler, a crude loading of 2mn barrels was completed at the under-construction Jask terminal in the Gulf of Oman on October 2, a day after Iran's missile attack on Israel.

The alleged loading is significant as Iran has reduced its reliance on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, the country's main oil export terminal, and bypassed the Strait of Hormuz. Kharg Island is understood to be the target of a potential Israeli attack on Iran in the coming weeks, according to some sources in the US and Israel. 

Mohsen Qamsari, the former director of the international affairs department at the NIOC, said Iran could “bank on” shipping 1mn barrels per day (bpd) from Jask in the event of Kharg going down from an attack.

“It can be said that the volume amounts to about half of what we export today," Qamsari added.

Based on Kpler data, Iranian oil exports hit a monthly record of almost 1.9mn in September, the highest since the US imposed sanctions on the country’s industry in 2018.

Qamsari said exporting such volumes from Jask could be a “big help” for Iran, but noted that Jask “could not fully replace” Kharg, from which 90% of Iranian oil exports were shipped.

“Although Jask is still under construction, it does not have any particular problems with exporting oil.”

Hardline Iranian newspaper Kayhan, which is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz if Israel attacks Iranian oil facilities. According to Qamsari, Jask is “strategically important” to Iran because it is located outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Now that the export terminal has gone partially operational, Iran could make good on its threat to close the strategic waterway, through which around 20% of the world's crude oil passes, without harming its oil flow. Experts have warned that such a disruption in the Middle East’s oil exports could push oil prices above $100 per barrel.

Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior commodity analyst at Kpler, said the first-ever cargo loaded from Jask, carried by the Iranian-owned Dune tanker, had arrived in Southeast Asia and was likely to make its way to China, Iran's largest oil customer.

However, data from TankerTrackers.com suggests that the first shipment from Jask took place in 2021 shortly after the terminal's official launch.

The full launch of the Jask export terminal is expected to cut oil export costs, including fuel and insurance, by shortening the journey by five days compared to Kharg Island.

Iran’s former President Hassan Rouhani said in September 2018 the county was replacing its main oil export terminal located deep within the Persian Gulf with a facility on Jask.

At the time the move shocked many Iran watchers and oil watchers alike as much of the investment was being ploughed into projects further east inside the Persian Gulf, but came part of Iran’s broader calculations of a total shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz in the event of an Israeli attack.

"This is very important for me; it is a very strategic issue for me. A major part of our oil sales must move from Kharg [Island in the Persian Gulf] to Jask," Rouhani said in a televised speech.

Rouhani, in July 2018, said Iran had always guaranteed the security of the Strait of Hormuz but warned that the US "should not play with the lion's tale". 

In late August, Iranian General Alireza Tangsiri, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval forces, told Tasnim News Agency that Iran has control of the Gulf and the strait and warned the US Navy to not have a presence there.