Iranian crude oil flow to European buyers has begun to pick up following removal of sanctions in January totaling 14 million barrels despite of financial, legal and logistical obstacles.

Since January, Tehran has sold 11 million barrels to Frances Total, 2 million barrels to Spains Cepsa and 1 million to Russias Litasco, Reuters reported quoting Iranian officials, traders and ship-tracking data.

European countries accounted for more than a third of Irans exports, or 800,000 barrels a day, before the European Union imposed sanctions in 2012 over its nuclear program. Before 2012, Iran exported around 2 million bpd of oil, most of it to Asian countries, which informally agreed to limit their collective purchases to around 1.2 million bpd once EU sanctions came into effect.

Washington has had sanctions on Iranian oil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran which ousted the US-protege regime of Shah. Iran, OPECs third largest producer, has raised exports by 900,000 barrels per day to 2.2 million bpd in the past two months and hopes to overcome most of the financial, legal and logistical obstacles it has faced in the wake of withdrawal of sanctions.