Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
China Gorges On Cheap, Sanctioned Oil From Iran, Venezuela
Bloomberg News
Mon, January 10, 2022, 10:05 PM
(Bloomberg) -- China doubled down on imports of Iranian and
Venezuelan crude in 2021, taking the most from the U.S.-sanctioned regimes in
three years, as refiners brushed off the risk of penalties to scoop up cheap
oil.
Crude processors in the world’s biggest importer were observed to have bought 324 million barrels from Iran and Venezuela in 2021, about 53% more than the year before, according to data from market intelligence firm Kpler. That’s the most since 2018, when China took 352 million barrels from the two nations.
Chinese buyers, particularly private refiners, have benefited from Washington’s tough line on Iran and Venezuela, continuing to buy their oil long after their counterparts elsewhere in Asia ceased purchases. The risk that non-U.S. entities may lose access to the U.S. financial system or have their American assets frozen if found guilty of breaching the sanctions hasn’t dissuaded them.
A glut of unsold cargoes, rising international prices, and the issuance of more crude import quotas by Beijing, have incentivized the private refiners, known as teapots, to snap up more oil from the pariah states. These shipments typically don’t show up in official customs data.
“This surge was triggered by rising crude prices, making Iranian crude, anecdotally, up to 10% cheaper when delivered into China,” said Anoop Singh, head of tanker research at Braemar ACM Shipbroking Pte Ltd. The U.S. also eased sanctions enforcement as it tried for a nuclear deal with Iran, he said.
Sanctioned oil is typically transported on old ships that would have otherwise been set for the scrapyards, providing cost savings, according to Singh. Cargoes may be shipped directly from the country of origin on tankers that have gone dark -- meaning their transponders are turned off -- or transferred between vessels at sea to mask where the crude has come from, he said.
Chinese imports of sanctioned crude should stay elevated around current levels early this year amid slow progress on the nuclear talks, according to Braemar and industry consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.
Global oil prices that have jumped almost 50% over the past year are also making cheaper, sanctioned barrels more attractive. That could be exacerbated by tax and pollution probes into Chinese teapots, which are putting more pressure on them, said Yuntao Liu, an analyst at Energy Aspects in London.
The price of sanctioned oil will always be discounted, said Emma Li, a Singapore-based analyst at Vortexa Ltd. “For teapots, the incentive is always the low price, compared with other popular grades.”
Translation
（彭博社）- 中國在
2021 年將伊朗和委內瑞拉原油的進口量翻了一番，從被美國製裁的政權中, 三年裡獲得了最大得益，因為煉油商因避免受到處罰的風險了而不收購廉價石油。
根據市場情報公司 Kpler 的數據，2021 年，這個全球最大進口國的原油加工商從伊朗和委內瑞拉購買了 3.24 億桶原油，比前一年增加了約 53%。這是自 2018 年以來的最高水平，當時中國從兩國進口了 3.52 億桶石油。
中國買家，尤其是私營煉油商，受益於華盛頓對伊朗和委內瑞拉的強硬立場，在亞洲其他地區的同行停止購買石油很久之後，他們繼續購買石油。非美國實體如果被判違反制裁，可能無法進入美國金融體系, 或其在美國資產凍結的風險, 但這並沒有欄阻他們購買石油。
大量未售出的貨物、不斷上漲的國際價格以及北京發布更多的原油進口配額，促使被稱為茶壺的私人煉油廠從被国际社会拒绝的國家搶購更多石油。這些貨物通常不會出現在官方海關數據中。
Braemar ACM Shipbroking Pte Ltd 油輪研究主管 Anoop Singh 表示： “這一飆升是由原油價格上漲引發的，傳聞說，伊朗原油運往中國時的價格要便宜 10%” 。他說，美國在試圖與伊朗達成核協議時也放寬了製裁執行力度。
走向隱蔽
據 Singh 稱，受制裁的石油通常使用原本用於廢料場的舊船運輸，從而節省成本。他說，貨物可能會直接從原產國乘坐已經變隱蔽的油輪（意味著它們關閉信號轉發器）或在海上船隻之間轉移以掩蓋原油的來源。
伊朗和委內瑞拉的原油經常被重新命名並假冒阿曼和馬來西亞的石油。官方數據顯示，自
2020 年
12 月以來，中國沒有收到任何伊朗原油，而從阿曼和馬來西亞的進口量有所增加。
Braemar 和行業諮詢公司 Energy Aspects Ltd 表示，在核談判進展緩慢之際，今年年初中國對受制裁原油的進口應保持在當前水平附近。
過去一年上漲近 50% 的全球油價也使得便宜、受制裁的桶裝原油更具吸引力。倫敦 Energy Aspects 的分析師 Yuntao Liu 表示，這可能會加劇調查對中國茶壺稅收和污染的吸引力，給它們帶來了更大的壓力。
Vortexa Ltd. 駐新加坡分析師 Emma Li 表示，受制裁的油的價格總是會打折。 “對於茶壺來說，與其他受歡迎的等級油相比，價格總是較低。”
So, China doubles down on imports
of Iranian and Venezuelan crude oil and benefits the most from the
U.S. sanctioned regimes as refiners ignore the risk of penalties to scoop up sanctioned
cheap oil.
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