Russia remains China's top oil supplier for the third month in July amid war in Ukraine

Amid the western sanctions on Russian oil in the wake of the brutal war in Eastern Europe, Moscow has continued to be China's top oil supplier for a third consecutive month in July, according to data issued on Saturday by the Chinese General Administration of Customs. China imported nearly 7.15 million tons of Russian oil, up 7.6% from a year earlier, which includes supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and seaborne exports from Russia's European and Far Eastern ports, as per The News International report. Further, this came at the time when the independent refiners increased their purchases of discounted supplies as they reduced their shipments from competing suppliers like Angola and Brazil. 

In spite of this, Russian shipments in July, which totaled around 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd), fell short of the record of over 2 million bpd set in May. China’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia, which is ranked second, increased last month from June, which was the lowest in over three years, to 6.56 million tons, or 1.54 million bpd, albeit they were still somewhat below the level of the previous year. It is pertinent to mention that Russia's biggest oil customer is China. 

Russian oil shipments have increased by 55% in May

As per media reports, Russian oil shipments have increased by 55% from 2021 to a new high in May, surpassing Saudi Arabia as China's top oil supplier, despite the West's continued advocacy of its own plan of banning Moscow. Even though COVID-19 restrictions and a faltering economy had depressed demand, China boosted its purchases of Russian oil. 

According to information from the Chinese General Administration of Customs, China imported a total of roughly 8.42 million tonnes of Russian oil in May 2022. Some of the supplies are transported by sea to Beijing through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline. 

Besides this, another set of statistics revealed that China's imports of Russian coal increased by 14% in July from a year earlier to their greatest level in at least five years as China purchased coal at a discount while Western nations avoided Russian shipments due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

According to the data released on Saturday by the General Administration of Customs, China imported 7.42 million tonnes of coal from Russia last month. Since comparable numbers were first collected in 2017, that number has increased from 6.12 million tonnes in June to 6.49 million tonnes in July, ANI reported.

Russia has exported 48.45 million tons of oil so far this year, up 4.4% from the same period last year, but it is still far behind Saudi Arabia, which has delivered 49.84 million tons, which is 1% less than the same period last year, ANI reported.  

As refiners reduced stockpiles and domestic gasoline consumption increased more slowly than anticipated, China's crude oil imports in July decreased by 9.5% from a year earlier, with daily quantities reaching their lowest level in four years. 

(Image: AP)