Iraq and the UAE serve as key nodes in the complex regional oil industry and network of infrastructure, corporate entities, oil tankers, and other elements that have facilitated Iranian sanctions evasion. Networks of oil refineries, storage tanks, production sites, and export terminals litter southeast Iraq and southwest Iran near and along the river that separates the two countries.
Dozens of cargo ships, small vessels, fishing boats, and large oil tankers are either moored in these waters awaiting new shipments of Iraqi and Iranian crude or simply passing through.
Iran has capitalized on this complex and poorly regulated area to covertly push its oil to international markets. According to U. The UAE has long been a focal point in global illicit finance and trade activity , including sanctions evasion practices, with rogue actors using the country as a base to bypass sanctions. With so much activity, tracking the Iranian oil that passes through has proved difficult.
In an interesting twist, the ruler of Fujairah, Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed al-Sharqi, made a claim to the seized oil, stating that his company, Fujairah International Oil and Gas Corporation , purchased it legally from Iraqi suppliers. Iranian sanctions evasion practices have caught the attention of U. Part of this is explained by crude prices falling to the lowest point in decades due to pandemic-induced stagnation around the world. And, in general, China has been taking advantage of unmatched industrial recovery to fire all cylinders and close the economic gap with the US.
In December , China imported 9. China is still thirsty for oil. Fresh quotas in early are 18 percent higher than a year ago. The decision is likely based on expectations that US President Joe Biden will restore the Barack Obama-era nuclear deal that the Donald Trump administration withdrew from in Chinese refineries and petrochemical processors are piping in crude from all sources, including Iran.
IranSource Sep 20, By Jonathan Fulton. The attack on Saudi Arabia could be another factor that leads to a more robust approach to China protecting its Middle East interests. The onslaught of Iranian crude, passed off as oil from Oman, the United Arab Emirates UAE and Malaysia, has dampened prices for competing supplies like Norway and Brazil to multi-month lows, though they recovered moderately in the last couple of weeks.
The surge in Iranian supplies, however, has not affected the market share of Saudi Arabia, China's top oil supplier, as the OPEC kingpin serves a different client base - China's state refiners and mega private plants. With transactions mostly done in Chinese currency and in some cases end-buyers offered open credit, Iranian oil flows are expected to continue, especially as the private firms face little political pressure to quit the lucrative business.
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