From a European point of view, the development may seem unscrupulous, but from an economic point of view it is simply reasonable. Chinese companies have filled the gap left by European sanctions over the Ukraine war: Chinese refiners and commodity traders bought more Russian oil than ever before at discounts, some of them substantial, in the past month, ensuring that the war-waging Country for the People’s Republic of the largest supplier of black gold rise.
China imported almost 8.42 million tons of crude oil from Russia in May, according to Beijing customs officials. That is around two million barrels per day and almost 25 percent more than in April. A year ago, China imported only half as much oil as it does now.
After a good year and a half, Russia was able to oust Saudi Arabia from being China’s largest oil supplier. The new import data from Beijing shows that Moscow is able to find buyers for its oil despite Western sanctions, even if this was only possible through massive price reductions.
In May, Saudi Arabia delivered 1.84 million barrels per day to China, nine percent more oil than in the previous year. That’s down about 15 percent from April’s 2.17 million bpd.
Customs data released on Monday also shows that China imported 260,000 tons of Iranian crude last month – despite US sanctions against Tehran. Traditionally, Beijing had concealed deliveries from Iran in the statistics and reported them under the heading “from other countries”. The Islamic Republic’s imports account for about 7 percent of China’s total crude oil imports. However, customs did not report any imports from Venezuela. State-owned oil companies have shunned purchases since late 2019. At this point, for fear of running afoul of secondary US sanctions.
China’s total crude oil imports rose nearly 12 percent in May to 10.8 million bpd from a low level a year earlier.
China also imported almost 400,000 tons of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) last month – 56 percent more than in May last year. In the first five months, imports of Russian LNG — primarily from the Sakhalin-2 project in the Far East and Yamal LNG in the Russian Arctic — rose 22 percent year-on-year to 1.84 million tons, according to customs data.
