(Source: China-Singapore Jingwei 2026-04-22)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent posted on social media on the 21st that the U.S. Navy will continue to block Iranian ports and the U.S. Treasury Department will continue to exert "maximum pressure" on Iran. The war between the United States, Israel and Iraq continues to be delayed and repeated, and the energy supply system in the Middle East has been severely damaged.

With exports blocked, Iran will face a technical challenge - how to store crude oil to maintain production.

According to data from Saudi Arabian TV, when the US military blockade began on April 13, the utilization rate of oil storage tanks on Iran's Khark Island had reached 51%. Even if production is reduced to the lowest level, Iran may reach what the industry calls the "tank peak" moment within 2-3 weeks.

However, Iran has not yet responded to the relevant data.

Is "almost full" sensational?Dong Xiucheng, Executive Dean of the China International Carbon Neutral Economic Research Institute, w88 casinopointed out that the U.S. blockade has caused oil shipments to stagnate. Based on current production, floating oil storage at sea is almost saturated, and Iran's oil storage does face certain risks.

For Iran, facing an oil storage facility that is "overflowing" with crude oil cannot be like facing a kettle that is about to be filled with water - it only needs to close the faucet and turn it on again when needed.

This is because oilfield exploitation needs to maintain a continuous and smooth production state. Once it is forced to shut down due to full oil storage, the oil production equipment and oil pipelines that were originally operating stably will stop working, and the internal flow of crude oil will also stagnate.

Lin Boqiang, chair professor at the w88 casino of Management of Xiamen University and president of the China Energy Policy Research Institute, pointed out that if Iran is forced to reduce or even stop crude oil production, this will have a lasting impact on the oil fields. When restarting, it is not only necessary to re-check and debug all oil production equipment and clear oil pipelines, but also to reconnect the entire production process. Pausing and restarting may damage the quality of the oil wells and lead to subsequent decline in production.

Dong Xiuchengstated that the capacity of Iran's only deep-water port, Khark Island, is fixed. However, under long-term sanctions, Iran lacks the funds and technology to build large storage tanks and expand the port. In the short term, choosing to "shut down" may cause groundwater intrusion and paraffin deposition, leading to oil well blockage, formation damage, permanent scrapping of production capacity, and difficulties in resuming production.

Oil storage has therefore become a problem that Iran must solve at present, but this problem is very "difficult". Lin Boqiang explained that the core difficulty in Iran's current oil storage lies in the limited capacity of oil storage facilities, which cannot carry the backlog of crude oil after exports are blocked. “Although the existing oil storage design has a certain degree of flexibility, it is not enough to cope with the current situation of unsold crude oil and continuous production.”

However, the actual support time involves a variety of factors that affect oil storage, such as production, consumption, refining capacity, degree of facility damage, and blockade duration.

From the current point of view,Dong Xiuchengindicates that the total capacity of land storage tanks, floating tankers, etc. determines the upper limit of oil storage. Iran's crude oil production is about 3.2 million to 3.3 million barrels per day. If high production is maintained, storage capacity may be exhausted soon. About half of crude oil production is used for domestic consumption, and stable domestic demand in Iran will also consume reserves, which affects the specific support time.

In fact, the US blockade not only affects Iran's "oil tanks", but may also affect changes in global oil prices. As the world's major oil producer, Iran's oil and gas production capacity is not as high as that of Saudi Arabia and Russia, but its influence in the global oil market cannot be underestimated.

Dai Jiaquan, chief expert of the China Petroleum Economics and Technology Research Institute, previously said that Iran's crude oil production will account for about 3.3% of global crude oil production in 2025; seaborne oil exports will account for about 3% of global oil w88 volume.

Dong Xiuchengsaid that Iran's oversupply and poor sales may suppress the decline in oil prices in the short term; however, as production cuts are implemented in the medium term, supply contraction will push oil prices to stop falling and rebound; if production capacity is damaged due to the closure of wells due to the U.S. blockade, it will also raise the center of oil prices, which may change the global supply and demand situation and raise hidden concerns about rising oil prices.

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