China is likely to receive roughly two million barrels of Iranian oil, according to Reuters, citing Vortexa Analytics ship surveillance data, after easing off on Iranian oil in favour of substantially discounted Russian crude.

The consignment is the third significant cargo to arrive from Iran since December, and is scheduled to offload in south China later this week for injection into the government’s reserves. The cargo is said to be on board a National Iranian Tanker Company tanker, indicating that it will be legally documented as a Chinese purchase of Iranian crude.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian oil shipments increased by 30% to 870,000 barrels per day in the first three months of this year, compared to total 2021 exports.

While Iran may be upbeat following Washington’s decision to remove some sanctions against Venezuela yesterday, there has been little sign of movement in the nuclear deal with Iran so far. Washington warned on Tuesday that a deal was “far from certain” and that the onus was entirely on Tehran, which continues to seek terms that the US will not accept.

Despite the lack of agreement, Iran looks to be prepared for some type of sanctions relief as a result of supply constraints caused by Russian penalties.