Tucked into the U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed Saturday by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate are new sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.
The legislation would broaden sanctions to include foreign ports, vessels and refineries that knowingly process or ship Iranian crude in violation of existing U.S. sanctions, and would expand secondary sanctions to cover transactions between Chinese financial institutions and sanctioned Iranian banks used to purchase petroleum products, according to Bloomberg.
While the sanctions could affect Iranian petroleum exports, they also include presidential waiver authorities, ClearView Energy Partners says.
Chinese independent refiners – which account for ~80% of Iran’s 1.5M bbl/day in oil exports – likely will find ways to keep buying Iranian cargoes despite new sanctions, refining and trading sources told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Iran is exporting more oil than at any time for the past six years, the giving its economy an annual $35B boost, as demand from China continues to increase.
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