i do not find oilprice.com credible on their reporting. They have a geopolitical bias on many of their reporting for a subject that should be neutral.
Agree
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Global South strategic cooperation
- Thread starter Strangelove
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i do not find oilprice.com credible on their reporting. They have a geopolitical bias on many of their reporting for a subject that should be neutral.
Agree
Who cares what the tone is? What matters is what kind of access China has in Iran, what kind of deal they got and what it's traded in.
CNY + CIPS + bartering for construction seem to be minimum that should be expected.
They have similar leverage now with Iraq, which is good.
Cradle describes how America screwing with Iraqi finances pushed them to China's arms. Of course, Chinese companies now heavily involved in Iraq's oil fields/
Now that America is a net oil exporter, it seems less interested in controlling oil around the world (well, at least that's the case with Biden)
We see China increasingly looking to control oil & NG long term contracts around the world. Some on really friendly terms and others are on market terms. And it's doing this without committing to an empire. It's getting there by taking advantage of green goals in Western countries, who now don't want to sign up to long term contracts.
Basically since the Europeans imposed the price cap on Russian oil and the demise of JCPOA, China now have the world's 2nd and 3rd largest oil exporters trying hard to sell them crude for large discounts. Seems logical to take advantage of the situation.
That's probably been the case since at least 2018 when Iran was banned from swift
I'm pretty sure China is paying a premium to get a diverse set of suppliers and avoid the kind of dependence Europe had on Russia
Western attention has moved away from Iran, swift alternatives are maturing, overall oil revenue has gone up from higher international prices and higher volumes therefore Iran should be less desperate for money etc
The supply of discount crude has increased, but demand has increased even more. Anyone importing from Russia might as well import from Iran as well now. If I had to guess, I'd say the price is probably similar to Russian crude but payment might be cash for Russia and a mixture of cash and barter for Iran. Which would be a good deal for both sides. But as long as the oil trade is a state secret, it will be hard to get reliable numbers
Iran has a government that decided to take a Korean ship hostage until the Koreans paid their oil bills. I don't think they'd agree to something that isn't mutually beneficial. Propaganda that China is exploiting Iran is just the same type of narrative as the BRI debt trap myth
solarz
Brigadier
The tone of that article is certainly propaganda, but once you delve into the specifics, you can see that it's highly beneficial to Iran.
The only reason Iran has not cooperated with China earlier is because of their infatuation with the West.
Why would China pay a premium for Iran oil?
lol, this is like a wish list for you. Iran needs customers for its oil and it has fewer potential customers than Russia
It has no one else that can offer it the market and product that China can
exploiting is a strong word. China has leverage and it should use its leverage to get the best deal possible.
You are all over the place here. First, you say China is paying a premium and now you are saying the price is probably similar to Russian crude. Which one is it? Given the fewer options, I would say it's likely China is just paying less from Iran.
The other thing Iran needs start doing is building oil and natural gas pipelines to China. Turkmenistan has one to China. It shouldn't be that hard for Iran to build one also.
Sneaking into Iraq is such a troll move.
US spent god knows how much money setting up a puppet regime there after the previous US puppet Saddam went AWOL. And had to massacre a ton of civilians while also sacrificing a decent amount of their own.
Now China is bloodlessly rolling in and sucking out the oil with RMB, same oil US bled themselves and Iraqis for.
This is almost as big of a cuck move as when Gorby gave up on the Baltics and Ukraine, where the Union invested uncountable funds and industries into building up, only for them to be replaced by artifical nations built of piss and shit headed by former SS collaborators.
The Iraq which was painstakingly shaped perfectly as the dictator in the white house wanted it, may soon fall to Iran and China without a single shot being fired.
US spent god knows how much money setting up a puppet regime there after the previous US puppet Saddam went AWOL. And had to massacre a ton of civilians while also sacrificing a decent amount of their own.
Now China is bloodlessly rolling in and sucking out the oil with RMB, same oil US bled themselves and Iraqis for.
This is almost as big of a cuck move as when Gorby gave up on the Baltics and Ukraine, where the Union invested uncountable funds and industries into building up, only for them to be replaced by artifical nations built of piss and shit headed by former SS collaborators.
The Iraq which was painstakingly shaped perfectly as the dictator in the white house wanted it, may soon fall to Iran and China without a single shot being fired.
I remember the days when just talking about accepting other currencies for oil, instead of the dollar, got you instantly bombed (Libya, Iraq, and maybe more, I forgot). But today Venezuela and Iran already do that for around 5 years, Russia, now Iraq, Saudis started accepting Yuan, etc. It's clear that the era of American global dominance has already ended. We are now in an area of multiple superpowers, not just one.
It's honestly kind of baffling to me that the US is just allowing it to happen.
Is their hold over Iraq really that weak? Or did someone's pockets also get filled during negotiations etc?
They haven't got much choice. If they start sanctioning Iraq it undermines the whole argument that they were in Iraq for "democracy". It's in the interests of the Iraqis as well to cooperate on some level as well because of the handouts they get from the Americans. They would lose that if they went full "death to America" like the Iranians do. That's the extent of American influence.
American policy in the middle east is so hilarious and counterproductive, I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face it's for anything other than the sole benefit of Israel.
No... Obviously the cheapest option would be to take it all from Russia and Iran. Saudi oil is the most expensive. And yet China is paying extra to get some Saudi oil as well. Isn't it obvious?
The only fact that I can see is that Iranian exports are up and that's despite Europe buying less from Russia. How do you explain that? I think it has multiple reasons including the ones I mentioned. If shipments are up it seems very dubious to claim that the discount relative to the benchmark is increasing
Iran actually imports gas from Turkmenistan. They probably need a partner like China to be able to build a pipeline from the southern gas fields to the north. A southern pipeline to give Pakistan cheap energy would make so much more sense and could rescue the state from failure. As an added benefit, Pakistan wouldn't need USD to pay for it. Apparently Iran is now threatening to fine Pakistan for not completing their part of the pipeline, which is ridiculous. It's such a big missed opportunity it's painful to watch
If China can rebuild Iraq it would show to the whole world that the US destroys countries while China rescues them.