“Russian crude shipments are estimated to amount to 2.07 million barrels per day for February deliveries into China, surpassing January’s estimated rate of 1.7 million bpd, an early assessment by Vortexa Analytics shows.”
“Independent Chinese refiners, known as teapots, are the world’s largest consumers of U.S. sanctioned oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela.”
” ‘For the quality you get from processing Russian oil versus Iranian, Russian supplies have become relatively more competitive,’ said a senior Chinese trader who regularly deals with teapots.”
“Uncertainty since January over whether the U.S. would launch military strikes on Iran if negotiations for a nuclear deal failed to yield Washington’s desired results curbed buying from Chinese teapots and traders, said Emma Li, Vortexa’s China analyst.”‘”
“Vortexa estimated Iranian oil deliveries into China – often branded by traders as Malaysian to circumvent U.S. sanctions – eased to 1.03 million bpd this month, down from January’s 1.25 million bpd.”
See also: Saudi Oil Sales to China Jump After Prices Cut to Five-Year Low
“State oil producer Saudi Aramco will provide around 56 million to 57 million barrels for loading next month to China, according to traders familiar with the sales, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. That compares with 48 million barrels the previous month.”