China’s oil imports from Russia increased by nearly a quarter compared to the same period in 2022.
Russia overtook Saudi Arabia to become China’s top oil supplier in the first two months of 2023, according to Chinese government data, as buyers snapped up sanctioned Russian oil at a discount. High.
Cargo shipments from Russia totaled 15.68 million tonnes in January-February, or 1.94 million barrels per day (bpd), up 23.8% from 1.57 million bpd in the period. respectively in 2022, data from the General Department of Customs showed on Monday.
Russia was China’s second-largest crude supplier last year, shipping 86.2 million tonnes.
Saudi crude oil imports totaled 13.92 million tonnes in the two-month period, or 1.72 million bpd, down from 1.81 million bpd a year earlier.
Saudi Arabia is China’s top supplier in 2022, selling 87.49 million tonnes of crude for the year, or 1.75 million bpd.
Western sanctions and price ceilings on Russia’s seaborne crude oil in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have restricted the pool of buyers for Russia’s supply, forcing it to trade at lower prices. Deep discount compared to international standards.
China’s independent refiners, many of them based in Shandong province, are among the main beneficiaries of this change in pricing power.
Russian ESPO crude that landed in February at Shandong ports was purchased in January at a discount of about $8 from the ICE benchmark Brent, although the price advantage has been somewhat eroded by the entry of Indian private refiners into the ESPO market.
However, with domestic fuel demand increasing later lifting COVID-19 restrictionsState-owned companies Sinopec and PetroChina resumed purchases of Russian Urals-grade goods in February after a brief pause at the end of 2022, just before the European Union’s start of Russia’s oil embargo Europe.
Chinese refiners use middlemen to handle shipping and insuring Russian crude to avoid violating Western sanctions.
Customs data also shows imports from Malaysia were 0.65 million bpd during the period, up 144.2 percent year-on-year. Malaysia is often used as an intermediary for sanctioned goods from Iran and Venezuela.
