22 June 2012, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation has just renewed its yearly orders of Iranian oil.  The decision comes after the United States exempted Japan from the oil sanctions, and the Japanese government agreed to provide shipping insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil.

It was also revealed that while Japan’s Showa Shell Sekiyu, and JX Nippon Oil & Energy, had officially cut back on oil purchases in past months, Mitsubishi was actually picking up those companies’ barrels of oil under the Mitsubishi banner.  So a slight of hand on the part of the Japanese before they got the exemption!

On 21 June 2012, it was revealed by Customs data that China has actually increased the amount of oil it gets from Iran.

China added 133,902 barrels per day to its crude shipments from Iran in May, a 34.5% increase.  A Reuters report said China was trying to offset the cuts they made earlier in the year.