Iranian crude exports exceeded 1 million bpd between December 2021 and January 2022 for the first time in three years, according to industry sources. Most of the oil was sold to China. In January, China officially reported Iranian oil imports for the first time in a year. Total Iranian oil exports in January were the highest since 2019, when the United States ended sanctions waivers for countries that imported Iranian oil, but were still far below the 2.5 million bpd shipped prior to the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018.