Iran offering deeper discounts on China oil cargoes to compete with Russia: Report

Iran has further slashed the price of the oil it is supplying to China amid growing competition with Russia in the Chinese market, shows a report.

The Monday report by the Bloomberg said that Iran had deepened the discounts offered to Chinese buyers for its Light and Heavy crude oil grades to make them competitive with August deliveries of Russian Urals cargoes.

The report said Russian oil had flooded the Chinese market in May, three months after Moscow came under sanctions by Western countries because of a military conflict in Ukraine.

It added that Iranian crude is currently being offered at nearly $10 a barrel below Brent futures compared with a discount of about $4 to $5 offered prior to the imposition of sanctions on Russia.

Oppressive sanctions on Iran to blame for global energy crisis: Minister

Iran’s oil minister Owji says US sanctions on Iran will be to blame for a worsening of global energy crisis.

Iran itself has been subject to a series of unilateral American sanctions since 2018. However, the country became a key supplier of crude to China in the second half of 2021 with estimates suggesting it has been selling more than 1 million barrels per day to the East Asian country since then.

There has been no confirmation of the Bloomberg report by Iranian authorities. That comes as the Iranian Oil Ministry has repeatedly denied oil exports from the country have declined because of increased supply of Russian oil to China.

A report by the Reuters news agency in late June said that China had imported a large shipment of Iranian crude earlier that month to boost its state reserves.

A bulk of Iranian and Russian oil shipments to China are delivered to private refiners in the country and Chinese customs authorities normally exclude them from official trade records.

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