• amount of a premium / discoutn depends on a location's fundamentals, at a specific moment in time¹⁾

This massive additional quantity of oil from Iran over and above the official figures has gone to China for a basic discount of 30 percent minimum to the relevant grade benchmarks, which has reduced China’s demand for oil in the open market and has consequently acted as a dampening factor on global oil prices.¹⁾

Tehran gives China a steep discount to take its banned oil, taking up to 15 percent off the price of each barrel to make it worthwhile for Beijing to take on the liability of skirting sanctions.²⁾