Iranian oil armada heads to China ahead of U.S. sanctions
Iranian oil armada heads to China ahead of U.S. sanctions

An unprecedented volume of Iranian crude oil is set to arrive at China’s northeast Dalian port this month and in early November before U.S. sanctions on Iran take effect, according to an Iranian shipping source and data on Refinitiv Eikon. A source from the National Iranian Tanker Company said the company is shipping more than […]

An unprecedented volume of Iranian crude oil is set to arrive at China’s northeast Dalian port this month and in early November before U.S. sanctions on Iran take effect, according to an Iranian shipping source and data on Refinitiv Eikon.

A source from the National Iranian Tanker Company said the company is shipping more than 20 million barrels of oil to Dalian.

“As our leaders have said it will be impossible to stop Iran from selling its oil. We have various ways of selling our oil and when the tankers reach Dalian, we will decide whether to sell it to other buyers or to China,” the source said, without elaborating further.

So far, a total of 22 million barrels of Iranian crude oil loaded on supertankers owned by the National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC) are expected to arrive at Dalian in October and November, the data showed. Dalian typically receives between 1 million and 3 million barrels of Iranian oil each month, according to the data that dates back to January 2015.

The Islamic country previously stored oil at Dalian during the last round of sanctions in 2014 that was later sold to buyers in South Korea and India. Some of the biggest refineries and commercial oil storage facilities in China are located in Dalian.