Saudi Arabia Remains China’s Top Oil Supplier

Saudi Arabia Remains China’s Top Oil Supplier

Saudi Arabia remained China's top supplier with volumes of 73.76 million tons, similar to the same period last year.

Saudi shipments rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 7.93 million tons, or 1.87 million bpd, versus September's 1.83 million bpd.

China’s oil imports from Russia jumped 16 percent in October from the same month last year to just behind top supplier Saudi Arabia, as state-run firms stocked up before a European embargo over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine kicked in.

Supplies from Russia, including oil pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and seaborne shipments from Russia’s European and Far Eastern ports, totaled 7.72 million tons, data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday.

That amount, equivalent to 1.82 million barrels per day, was steady from September but off May’s record of nearly 2 million bpd.

State-run traders including Unipec, Zhenhua Oil, and Chinaoil ramped up imports of Russian Urals, loaded mostly from European ports, before winding down purchases in recent weeks in the face of imminent EU sanctions and uncertainty surrounding a Group of Seven plan to cap Russian oil prices.

January-October Russian supplies rose 9.5 percent on year to 71.97 million tons, helped by refiners’ consistent appetite for the discounted