After years of healthy trade in crude oil and petroleum products between Iran, Qatar and Asian customers, the tide seems to be turning, Oil Price reported.

This week, figures emerged showing a decline in oil exports from the two OPEC members to key Asian customers. Bloomberg reported that Qatar’s crude exports to Asia have declined severely, while Reuters showed the same figures for Iran. The latter’s exports to Asia declined by 16 percent year-on-year in December, settling at a level of 1.58 million bpd, while at the same time Iranian oil exports in 2017 to Asia increased by 2.5 percent reaching a level of 1.67 million bpd. The December decline in Iranian oil exports is considered to be a result of the threat by the Trump Administration of a potential renewal of U.S. sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program.

For Iran, the future seems to look bleak, as even stalwart Asian supporters such as China are getting less interested in the Iranian oil and gas sectors. The latest data shows that China’s December oil purchases from Iran declined by 17.2 percent to around 571,275 bpd, while Indian import volumes also declined by 6.2 percent. Japan, considered to be under pressure of Washington and Saudi Arabia (combined with UAE support), also showed a 11.2 per cent decline in Iranian oil imports, settling at around 218.757 bpd.

The same negative figures are reported for Qatari oil exports. The peninsula’s oil exports to Japan and South Korea are reported to be down by more than 20 percent for 2017. Qatar’s exports to Japan decreased by almost 25 per cent, while South Korea imported 26 percent less. These figures stand in stark contrast to the fact that OPEC leader Saudi Arabia shows an 8.1 percent growth in volumes to Japan.

Analysts indicate that the Qatari demise is mainly caused by the Saudi Asian market share approach. JOGMEC officials stated that Aramco is using OPEC’s production cuts and Saudi’s export volume cuts to the US and Europe has led to more volumes hitting Asian markets.