“Iran has begun cutting the price of its already cheap crude oil to compete with Russia in the market for China, one of the world’s largest oil importers,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

The agency indicated that “China has become an important destination for Russian oil in light of the impact of the Ukraine situation, and this has led to increased competition with Iran in one of the few remaining markets for Iranian crude oil supplies, which have been significantly curtailed due to sanctions.” USA.

Russian exports to China jumped to a record high in May last year as Saudi Arabia’s exports to that market topped and Russia topped China’s top oil exporters that month.

In light of this, Iran has lowered oil prices to remain competitive in the Chinese market, but it still maintains high flows to China, likely due to increased demand as China eases tight restrictions related to the Corona virus that have squashed consumption.