Home ›› 12 Nov 2021 ›› World Biz
China’s imports of Iranian oil have held above half a million barrels per day on average for the last three months, traders and ship-tracking firms said, as buyers judge that getting crude at cheap prices outweighs any risks from busting US sanctions.
Chinese purchases of Iranian crude have continued this year despite the sanctions that, if enforced, would allow Washington to cut off those who violate them from the US economy.
President Joe Biden’s administration has so far chosen not to enforce the sanctions against Chinese individuals and companies amid negotiations that could revive a 2015 nuclear deal that would allow Iran to sell its oil openly again.
After a dip in June and July from a record high in May as buyers ran low on import permits, Chinese independent refiners embraced Iran’s cheaper crude again as the government released fresh quotas, the traders and ship-tracking sources said.
“Deep discounts of Iranian oil and the new import quotas supported demand from Chinese independent refiners,” said Emma Li, tanker tracker Vortexa Analytics’ China market analyst, adding that strong Chinese refining margins also lent support.
Iranian oil shipments, now worth some $1.3 billion a month and the bulk of which go to China, provide key revenue for Tehran. Iran and world powers are set to resume talks on Nov. 29 to restore the nuclear deal and lift US sanctions on the sales.
Iranian arrivals into China hit 660,000 bpd in August and 545,000 bpd in September, before dropping back to 470,000 bpd in October, according to data from Vortexa Analytics.
That put the three-month average at 560,000 bpd, up from a 478,000 bpd average for June and July, according to Vortexa data. The shipments hit a peak of 730,000 bpd in May, while the year’s average to end-October was 562,000 bpd.
Other tanker trackers said Vortexa’s volumes for the three months are similar to their own estimates.
Petro-Logistics Chief Executive Daniel Gerber, while noting that the volumes are down from earlier in the year, said: “Going forward, if China is able to control the recent surge in COVID infections, I would not be surprised to see stronger imports from Iran, given high oil prices, OPEC discipline and the discounts that are available on sanctioned oil.”
Officially, China has not imported any oil from Iran since the start of 2021, according to its customs data, as state-owned refiners remain sidelined by the U.S. sanctions.
Iranian crude, which accounts for about 6% of China’s crude oil imports, is currently exported to China as oil from Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, squeezing out supplies from Brazil and West Africa, traders said.
