Reuters: Iran is selling crude to China without any problems, an Iranian government spokesman said on Tuesday, dismissing reports Tehran may not be getting paid by its biggest oil buyer.
TEHRAN Jul 26 (Reuters) – Iran is selling crude to China without any problems, an Iranian government spokesman said on Tuesday, dismissing reports Tehran may not be getting paid by its biggest oil buyer.
Tehran has cut supply to India for August as sanctions have made it difficult for New Delhi to find a way for its refiners to pay for Iranian oil, but Iranian crude sales to China have surged in 2011.
“We have no problem with China in regards of selling our oil,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a weekly press conference broadcast live on Iranian television.
Iran is China’s third-largest crude supplier, behind Saudi Arabia and Angola, shipping around 540,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first six months of the year, or more than 10 percent of Beijing’s 5.1 million bpd of imports.
Oil industry officials in China said on Monday there were no pending debts between China and Iran.
(Reporting by Ramin Mostafavi, writing by Daniel Fineren)
