Iran Oil Flows to China Fall on Sanctions, Refinery Maintenance

Iran is shipping less oil to China, as toughening sanctions snarl the OPEC producer’s shipments and refinery demand falls in the world’s biggest fossil fuel importer.

Preliminary data shows flows of crude and condensate from Iran to China were at just over 1.1 million barrels a day in May, about a fifth lower than a year earlier, according to estimates by Vortexa Ltd. based on ship-tracking data. The numbers are subject to change as shipments are tallied, a process made more difficult by tankers increasingly turning off their transponders.