China’s crude oil imports from Iran are highest in two years

New figures show that China imported 648,561 barrels per day of crude oil from Iran in June – the highest in more than two years.

This equates to a year-on-year increase of 53.2 per cent, according to the figures released by the General Administration of Customs.

It was also the highest figure since May 2009, when China imported an average of 730,161 barrels per day from Iran.

According to the Financial Times, US financial sanctions have blocked China from paying Iran $20 billion for oil, with the two countries now in talks to develop a bartering system whereby Iranian oil could be exchanged for Chinese goods and services.

China also imported an average of 484,692 barrels per day of crude oil from Angola in June. This was 46.9 per cent less than during the same period last year.

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