A Chinese oil tanker[/caption]Chinaimported arecord volumeof Iranian oil last month as its condensate demand increased and as the Persian Gulf nation sought to boost crude exports.
China, the worlds second-largest oil consumer, bought 3.29 million metric tons ofIranian suppliesin April, or about 804,000 barrels a day, data from the General Administration of Customs in Beijing showed today. Thats almost 40 percent more than in March and the most since Jan. 2004 when Bloomberg started compiling the data. Imports averaged 1.79 million tons a month last year.
Purchases have risen on an estimated 4 million tons of annual incremental demand from a petrochemicals producer in southern China andIrans push to sell more oil, according to ICIS-C1, a commodities researcher based inShanghai.Dragon Aromaticsin Zhangzhou city started a long-term contract in June to buy Iranian condensate, including from the South Pars field, to add to feedstock to its naphtha cracking unit, Amy Sun, an ICIS-C1 analyst in Guangzhou, said by phone today.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.,Asias biggest refiner, and plants owned byChina North Industries Group, a military weapons manufacturer, are the countrys leading buyers of Iranian crude, according to Sun.
Iran will ship crude at the maximum level possible regardless of restrictions imposed in an interim deal with world powers that offered relief from sanctions over its nuclear program, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on May 9.
The nation, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, should limit exports to an average of 1 million barrels a day in the six months through July, the U.S. said in November. Iran wants to pump an additional 1 million a day within four years fromoil fieldsshared with neighbors, according to Zanganeh.
By Bloomberg
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