China buys more Iranian and Venezuelan oil in test for Biden

The trend is confirmed by other ship trackers, some of whom see sales at 1 million barrels per day.

“If he sells 1 million barrels a day at current prices, Iran has no incentive to negotiate,” said Sara Vakhshouri, president of SVB Energy International in Washington, and an expert on the oil industry in Iran.

President Biden’s government has sought to contact Iran to return to a 2015 nuclear deal ended by its predecessor, former President Donald Trump. But Tehran has so far rejected the openings.

China’s oil purchases from Venezuela, where the US is trying to use sanctions to pressure the Maduro regime to hold credible democratic elections, are also on the rise, according to London financial data provider Refinitiv.

The rising oil shipments to China, Iranian and Venezuelan officials said, followed the offer of Mr. Pray to relieve Iran in exchange for complying with the country to an international nuclear deal and to Venezuela if it organizes free elections. Mr. Trump has pursued a policy of increasing sanctions pressure on both countries.

China is also increasingly linked to international sanctions against North Korea and is no longer trying to hide some of its smuggling activities because it wants to help Pyongyang, U.S. officials said recently.

Combined with rising oil prices, the development has reduced the pressure for Tehran and Caracas to negotiate with Washington, these people said.

“Informal Chinese purchases have reduced the need to negotiate oil sanctions” for Tehran, said one US official who focused on Iran.

The Foreign Ministry, when asked about the impact of Chinese imports of Iranian crude oil on attempts to re-enter Tehran, did not respond to a request for comment. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price has the idea that the Biden government will ease sanctions without action by Tehran to stem violations of the Nuclear Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

“If the Iranians are under the impression that they have no movement on their part to reflect the full compliance of the JCPOA that we will offer favors or unilateral gestures, it is a false impression,” he said. Price told reporters earlier this week.

Since November, Iranian oil traders have said they have been approached by Asian buyers for new sales to take advantage of discounted prices because buyers feel the pressure on sanctions under Biden’s government will ease.

Iranian officials and traders have become increasingly adept at evading sanctions, making covert transfers in the Persian Gulf and South Asia to hide the origin of their cargo and find new ways to get paid through non-banking platforms such as to use cryptocurrencies.

On Monday, Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said Iran’s oil exports had increased in recent months, although he did not give any details.

‘There were some problems with money transfers. “So we had to come up with certain plans, methods to bring in the oil export revenue, and we recently had a breakthrough,” he said. Jahangiri said by the state-run news agency IRNA.

Kpler analyst Homayoun Falakshahi said the shipwreck showed that the fastest growing buyer was the state-owned China Petroleum & Chemical. Corp.

, or Sinopec, the country’s largest refinery. After reducing staffing and spending over the past two years, Sinopec is posting new job offers online and talking to the government about doubling production in the country, according to former Iranian oil officials and an adviser to the company.

Officials from Sinopec and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. Chinese officials have long criticized US policy in Iran and Venezuela, as well as its financial diplomacy, as one-sided and compelling.

Washington still hopes to lure the Islamic Republic with the more substantial relief that would come with the release of billions of dollars in frozen oil money and a return to official crude sales. In return, the US wants Iran to abide by the nuclear deal, despite repeated violations, and wants to tighten control over Tehran’s ballistic program and other efforts not covered by the original nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, Iran has helped Venezuela by supplying petroleum products, selling diesel and other critical energy needs in exchange for Venezuelan oil and gold. That oil is then sold on world markets, which generates an income for Iran and Mr. Maduro politically strengthened.

For the relationship between America and China, which is already strained by a series of security and economic disputes, Beijing’s crude trade with two of Washington’s leading enemies adds another major annoyance.

“It’s a complicated relationship and perhaps the most important relationship for both of our countries, and it has conflicting aspects, it has competitive aspects, and it has cooperation aspects,” Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said earlier this week.

U.S. officials have reminded China that companies that help import oil from Iran could risk sanctions, saying Beijing could be penalized for trade in Venezuela. The State Department declined to comment on its communication with China.

“The Maduro regime has adapted to oil sanctions and found a way to supply oil to China and Russia, and Iran has helped them,” said one administration official. “We are therefore going to use our sanction instruments to make sure we eliminate the options” for the Maduro government, the official said.

Others, however, say the government will also be careful to balance such policies with U.S. economic interests. ‘In some cases we did not impose a sanction [China] due to the impact on our economy. “If we hit hard, they can retaliate,” said another U.S. official.

Biden administration officials are meeting with Chinese counterparts for the first time in Alaska this week.

Write to Benoit Faucon at [email protected] and Ian Talley at [email protected]