China’s Imports of Iranian Oil Up 30%

Date: 23 January 2015 - 20:50

News ID: ۱۰۰۶۰

BEIJING (Dispatches) -- China's crude oil imports from Iran jumped by nearly 30% last year to their highest average level since 2011, customs data showed on Friday, as Iran's largest oil client boosted shipments.
Western sanctions against the OPEC member were eased in a late-2013 deal that allowed it to export about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) amid negotiations over its nuclear program. The lighter sanctions prompted both China and India to raise crude buys from Iran, especially over the first half of 2014.
Last year, China lifted 27.5 million tons of Iranian crude and condensate, an increase of 28.3% over 2013, the customs data showed. That put its daily average at 549,250 bpd, almost even with the 555,000 bpd imported in 2011 before the United States and the European Union tightened sanctions.
The December imports from Iran rose 19.1% from a year ago to 604,740 bpd, and were up 17% from November.
China, Iran's largest buyer, also recorded exporting 320,000 tons, or 6,400 bpd, of crude to Iran in 2014, including 240,000 tons in December.
China's crude imports from top exporter Saudi Arabia were down 7.9% in 2014 from the previous year to 993,320 bpd.

India Cuts Imports Ahead of Obama Visit

India has asked its refiners to slash oil buys from Iran in the next two months days ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi, Reuters reported.
India, the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil, has raised its crude shipments from there by more than 40% over the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
Now, the sources said, India's oil ministry has told Essar Oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and Indian Oil Corp -- the Indian refiners that buy from Iran -- to cut those imports to keep the annual figure in line with the nuclear deal.
"This is very much about U.S. pressure. India does not want Obama's visit to be overshadowed by some dispute over sanctions," said Robin Mills, head of consulting at Dubai-based Manaar Energy.
"India is encouraging its companies to cut back on imports because the U.S. demand has been that countries taking Iranian oil should not increase purchases from 2013 levels," he said.
Still, India's imports from Iran rose to 250,200 barrels per day (bpd) in April-December last year, up 41% compared with the same period in 2013, according to tanker arrival data made available to Reuters.
The U.S. president will arrive in New Delhi on Jan. 25 and hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Washington in September.

Iran Delays Oil Summit in London
Iran has delayed until later in the year a widely anticipated London conference during which it would unveil new oil and gas investment opportunities, Reuters quoted unnamed industry sources as saying.
The conference, which was due to be held on Feb. 23-25, has been delayed twice before, a move apparently aimed at giving time for sanctions on the country's oil sector to be lifted.
Tehran wants Western oil companies to revive its giant, ageing oilfields and to develop new oil and gas projects and has been preparing a new investment model for oil contracts.
Reuters said the conference was delayed until November. "They have not given a specific reason. What they said is they are still working on the contract," it quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment.
Western sanctions imposed in 2012 on Iran have choked Tehran's oil production - output is down a million barrels per day (bpd) since the start of 2012 to 2.7 million bpd - and cost it billions in revenues.
Top Iranian officials say the country can raise production to 4 million bpd within six months of sanctions being lifted.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has met with Western oil executives at OPEC's previous meetings in Vienna, including Italy's Eni, Royal Dutch Shell and Austrian oil and gas group OMV.
Eni, Shell, and Total have already developed some of Iran's oilfields from scratch.