The news comes amid a report by The Wall Street Journal saying that China has complied with the U.S. sanctions and stopped purchasing crude from Iran following the end of Washington’s waivers.

However, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia stated on May 5 that the country is planning to continue selling its oil in a “grey market” even after the expiration of the U.S. waivers.

The U.S. granted waivers to eight countries buying Iranian oil – China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey after imposing sanctions on Tehran’s energy, banking and shipping sectors in November 2018.

In April 2019, Washington announced that it wouldn’t extend the waivers, with the expressed aim to drive Iran’s oil exports down to “zero”.

In early May, Chinese Commerce Ministry announced the country’s opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran, saying that cutting Iranian oil supplies will only worsen volatility in global energy markets.

China is Iran’s largest oil customer with imports of 475,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter of this year, according to Chinese customs data.

The post China’s Iranian oil intakes skyrocket in April appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Iranian oil industry has been under pressure from the U.S. efforts to isolate the country by reimposing sanctions. The new round of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector were put in action on November 4, 2018.

The unloading of the fuel oil comes less than two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced that Washington has decided not to extend waivers allowing major importers to continue buying oil from Iran. The waivers ended on May 2.

Earlier this month, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir-Hossein Zamaninia said Iran is mobilizing all its resources to sell its oil in a gray market, countering unjust and illegitimate U.S. sanctions.
“This is not smuggling. This is countering sanctions which we do not see as just or legitimate”, Zamaninia said in a conference held at the Islamic Azad University of Tehran.

The post Iran delivers 130,000t of fuel oil to China appeared first on Iran News Daily.