Iran Will Raise Crude Shipments to China ‘Soon,’ Mehr Says

Iran Will Raise Crude Shipments to China ‘Soon,’ Mehr Says

Iran will increase the volume of oil
it ships to China “soon,” state-run Mehr news agency reported,
citing an an unidentified official at National Iranian Oil Co.
China and Iran agreed on pricing and sales methods for the
oil contract, Mehr reported, without giving further details. A
NIOC official at the company’s Singapore crude marketing office,
who asked not to be identified in line with company policy,
declined to comment on the report.
Iran was still in negotiations as late as last month with
China International United Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the
nation’s biggest oil trader, over that company’s 2012 crude
supply contract, two people with knowledge of the talks said
Jan. 10. The agreements between the buyer, known as Unipec, and
NIOC were scheduled to be agreed on last year, according to the
people, who declined to be identified because the information is
confidential.
The European Union agreed on Jan. 23 to ban oil imports
from Iran, the world’s fourth-largest producer, starting July 1
to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic republic’s nuclear
program. U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill on Dec. 31
that tightens sanctions by denying access to the U.S. financial
system to any foreign bank that conducts business with the
Central Bank of Iran. China is the world’s biggest buyer of
Iran’s oil, accounting for 22 percent of its exports, according
to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Unipec and NIOC reached an agreement in principle on the
2012 supply contract, the Wall Street Journal reported today,
citing an unidentified person familiar with Iran’s oil sales.