China doubles indirect oil imports from sanctioned countries in September

China’s customs office data have pointed to a major increase in the country’s indirect oil imports from countries under US sanctions in September.

The data covered in a Monday report by the Reuters news agency showed that China’s oil imports from Malaysia, from where the country has taken delivery of oil originating from Iran, Venezuela and more recently Russia for the past two years, reached 4.05 million metric tons in September.

The figure, which is equivalent to 985,500 barrels per day (bpd), shows a double increase from September 2021 and is up from a previous record of 3.37 million tons recorded in August.

Experts say oil supplies to China from Malaysia mostly originate from Iran while shipments from Venezuela and Russia via the transfer point have been flowing at lower quantities in recent months.

That comes as China’s customs administration does not officially declare oil imports from Iran and Venezuela as shipments from the two countries are mostly bought by private refiners.

Increased Iranian oil supplies to China have been a major lifeline for Iran at a time the country’s direct oil exports are under US sanctions.

Those supplies have remained steady at around 1 million bpd since the second half of last year despite increased Russian oil exports to China and lower economic activity in the East Asian country.

Chinese customs data published on Monday showed that the country had imported large volumes of crude from Russia through normal routes in September, including via the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and from Russia’s European and Far Eastern ports.