On Sunday afternoon, one million barrels of crude were offered for sale in the international ring of the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX) and soon 10 bids were placed at prices ranging from $61.85 to around $70 per barrel.
Later, 280,000 barrels were traded in IRENEX at $74.85.
Last week, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ali Kardor had said the country would soon start offering oil for exports via its national stock exchange.
He added that all of those barrels would be bound for exports.
In July, First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said Iran would be looking to offer oil via the stock exchange to counter the US sanctions on the country’s oil exports.
US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May and three months later, Washington re-imposed the first round of anti-Iran sanctions it had lifted under the JCPOA. The second phase of US bans will come into effect on November 4 targeting Iran’s oil exports and Central Bank.
The Trump administration has called on all buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero but Iranian officials say that will not happen.