So Much for Sanctions: China, Iran Iron Out Oil Agreement

China has, at least for now, dashed any hopes that it plans to obey tighter U.S. sanctions against Iran after hammering out an agreement to resume some imports of Iranian crude.

State-owned Unipec, one of China’s top importers, reached an agreement with National Iranian Oil Co. earlier this week to renew an annual supply contract that had lapsed at the end of the year.

During the negotiations, which dragged into February and were only resolved after a visit to Beijing by Iran’s deputy oil minister, imports fell by about 280,000 barrels a day and halved the amount of Iranian crude shipped to China in January and February.

Although the timing of the cuts coincided with a renewed push by the international community to apply pressure to Iran over its nuclear activities, the agreement underscores that China’s dispute with Iran was strictly commercial rather political.       Read Full