Oil jumped on escalating Iranian tensions, including an AI-generated post by U.S. President Donald Trump that he said showed the Kharg Island oil hub being destroyed, a claim one Iranian official said was “laughable”.
There was no evidence of such an attack and a U.S. official said on Monday the military had not targeted Kharg Island.
Following are key facts on Iran’s energy industry:
KHARG ISLAND
The third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran exported 90% of its crude via Kharg Island before the war, but flows from Kharg have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.
Kharg sits 16 miles (26 km) from Iran’s coast in the northern end of the Gulf, and about 300 miles (483 km) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz.
Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the government-owned National Iranian Oil Company, said Trump’s tweets were laughable and conditions at Kharg were calm.
Oil operations had not stopped and workers were busy repairing previous damage and modernising facilities, he said, according to the Nournews website, which is affiliated with Iran’s top security body.
The U.S. military previously carried out strikes on military targets on Kharg, a U.S. official told Reuters in April, but said the strikes did not impact oil infrastructure.
Trump said on June 11 that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, but then said a threatened U.S. military operation there was off the table for now, days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war on June 17.
A U.S. attack on Kharg would heap further pressure on Iran’s oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling from the U.S. naval blockade. The U.S. imposed its blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly warned that any attack on Kharg Island could trigger escalation in the region.
OIL PRODUCTION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Iran’s fields and facilities are concentrated in the southwestern provinces of Khuzestan for oil, and Bushehr for gas and condensate from the giant offshore South Pars gas field.
Iran pumped 2.48 million barrels per day of crude oil in July, similar to production of 2.45 million bpd in June, according to secondary sources cited by OPEC. That is equal to roughly 2.5% of global oil production.
Its domestic refineries have a capacity of 2.6 million bpd, consultancy FGE has said.
In August, Iran loaded just 251,000 bpd of oil, according to Kpler, which said oil stocks held at Kharg Island fell by 550,000 barrels to 19.45 million barrels.
Fuel exports, including LPG, averaged about 820,000 bpd in 2025, according to Kpler, slightly below 2024 levels.
WHO BUYS IRAN’S OIL?
Chinese private refiners are the main buyers. The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on some Chinese refiners for purchasing Iranian oil.
China says it does not recognise unilateral sanctions against its trade partners, but its purchases of Iranian crude have declined.
Iran has skirted sanctions for years using tactics including ship-to-ship transfers at sea, masking the origin of its oil, and using tankers that hide their locations from satellites.
Tehran’s demands in earlier talks with the U.S., whichhave since collapsed, included the lifting of sanctions on Iran and recognition of its control of the Strait of Hormuz.
WORLD’S LARGEST GAS RESERVES
Iran produces natural gas from the offshore South Pars gas field, which makes up around a third of the world’s largest reservoir of natural gas.
Strikes have hit Iran’s production facilities at the South Pars field. Iran restored gas production in May at three offshore platforms in the field that had been forced to halt output.
Iran shares the reservoir with major exporter Qatar, which calls its field the North Dome.
Sanctions and technical constraints have meant most gas Tehran produces from South Pars is for domestic use.
Iran’s gas production totalled 276 billion cubic metres in 2024, with 94% consumed in Iran, according to data by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
Israel has attacked South Pars this year and last year, with fires reported and some disruption to operations.
The entire reservoir contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of usable gas — enough to supply the entire world’s needs for 13 years.
(Compiled by Andrew Mills, Federico Maccioni, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Stephanie Kelly; editing by Jason Neely and Sharon Singleton)