Oil and gas tanks are seen at an oil warehouse at a port in Zhuhai, China October 22, 2018. Reuters' analysis of China's savings on oil purchases from the three sanctioned countries compares what Chinese importers would have paid by purchasing similar grades from non-sanctioned producers. For imports of Venezuelan oil, mostly heavy grade Merey, China saved an average of $10 a barrel versus comparable Colombian Castilla crude, the calculations based on the trader data showed. With January-September inflows of Venezuelan oil at around 430,000 bpd, according to the average of the Vortexa and Kpler data, China's savings from buying Venezuelan oil was $1.17 billion. TEAPOT MARGINSWith state refiners Sinopec and PetroChina refraining entirely from buying Iranian and Venezuelan crude, teapots have feasted on discounted oil from the two suppliers.

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Persons: Aly, Kang Wu, Brent, Viktor Katona, Chen Aizhu, Muyu Xu, Tony Munroe Organizations: REUTERS, refiners, Reuters, P, Administration, Customs, Vortexa, Russia's, Castilla, Brent, U.S . State Department, U.S ., Thomson Locations: Zhuhai, China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, SINGAPORE, United States, Moscow, Tehran, Caracas, East, West Africa, South America, Beijing, Kpler, Kozmino, Baltic, Ukraine, Europe, India, Brazil, Urals, Oman, U.S, Venezuelan, teapots, Shandong, Israel