China is taking advantage of steep discounts for Iranian and Venezuelan crude to increase its imports from the two countries sanctioned by the United States, Bloomberg reports , adding that prices for Iranian and Venezuelan oil are at their lowest since November 2017. From Iran, China has been importing an average of 446,000 bpd, which is substantially higher than the amount Washington agreed to let it import under the sanction waivers it granted eight large Iranian oil buyers in November. However, the 360,000-bpd allowance does not take into account oil produced by Chinese companies taking part in the development of Iranian oil fields. As for Venezuela, Chinese oil buyers are not subject to sanctions that Washington imposed on state oil company PDVSA in January, so theoretically, they can continue buying as much Venezuelan crude as they like. However, one of their Indian counterparts, Reliance Industries, has stopped importing Venezuelan […]