Iran's condensate exports in September hit the highest monthly total so far this year, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
Iran's condensate exports hit the highest in September after its top client China resumed buying of the ultra-light crude for the first time in six months, Reuters wrote.
Iran has had to store tens of millions of barrels of oil, mostly condensate from its South Pars gas fields, onboard ships due to a drop in China's demand over the summer and an outage at a major plant.
"Unlike crude oil that could be cut back, Iran has had to keep South Pars pumping to supply its local gas market," said one of the sources with direct knowledge of supplies to China.
Condensate is a by-product of natural gas production.
The source said that China's Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's largest refiner, Sinopec, imported about one million barrels of Iranian condensate in September, with the same monthly amount due to be shipped through to March.
Iranian condensate exports in September were around 210,000 barrels per day (bpd), topping 200,000 bpd for the first time this year after China resumed imports, a second source with knowledge of the data said.
Other buyers included Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Poland, said the source.
Iran has the capacity to export about 500,000 bpd of condensate, but buyers took about 180,000 bpd on average in the first nine months this year, according to the sources.