Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, China has become one of Moscow’s most important trading partners in terms of crude oil. picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Mikhail Tereshchenko
China’s crude oil imports from Russia hit an all-time high in May at 2.29 million barrels per day.
Deliveries last month rose 15.3 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Europe has cut Russian oil imports by 90 percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed global energy markets since February 2022. China became one of Moscow’s most important trading partners, and Western countries distanced themselves from the warring nation. In May, Beijing imported a record amount of Russian crude, new tariffs data show. They were on Tuesday by Reuters quoted.
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Imports from Russia to China totaled 2.29 million barrels a day last month. This corresponds to an increase of 15.3 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. Also, average barrel sales rose 32.4 percent from April’s 1.73 million barrels per day.
Like India, China could buy barrels at a discount in Moscow. A majority of purchases come from private refineries. For example, the Hengli Petrochemical refinery, which has a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, received its first Ural crude oil shipment of 730,000 barrels in early May, according to Reuters.
Smaller refiners, also known as “teapots,” have been able to generate larger profit margins thanks to their purchases of prohibited cargoes from Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
EU countries have drastically reduced imports of Russian crude oil
Meanwhile, European Union member states have reduced Russian fuel imports by 90 percent since the trade embargo last year. This emerges from the Eurostat data published on Monday.
In the three years before Russia invaded Ukraine, EU members imported an average of 15.2 million tons of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia each month. In March, that average dropped to 1.4 million tons.
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To compensate for the missing barrels, the EU has expanded trade with the USA and Saudi Arabia.
In December, the EU banned imports of Russian crude oil by sea, and in February, imports of refined products. However, imports via pipelines continued. The EU wants to stop all Russian fuel imports by 2027.
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