- Category
- Latest news
China Pulls Back From Russian Oil as US Sanctions Hit Rosneft, Lukoil
- Authors
![Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk]( "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
Chinese refiners are cutting back on Russian crude purchases after Washington and its allies expanded sanctions to include Moscow’s largest oil producers and some of their trading partners, Bloomberg reported on November 3.
State-owned energy firms Sinopec and PetroChina have canceled several Russian cargoes following US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil last month, traders told Bloomberg.
Smaller private refiners, known as “teapots,” are also pausing imports amid fears of being targeted, after China’s Shandong Yulong Petrochemical was recently blacklisted by the UK and EU.
The restrictions have hit the ESPO crude grade especially hard, with prices plunging as demand from China—Russia’s top buyer—dropped sharply. Rystad Energy estimates that roughly 400,000 barrels per day, or about 45 percent of China’s total Russian oil imports, are affected by the pullback, according to Bloomberg.
The new US sanctions aim to choke off funding for Russia’s war in Ukraine by tightening pressure on its energy exports and the companies that handle them.
For China, the world’s largest crude importer, the shift could redirect demand toward alternative suppliers, including the United States, following last week’s meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, Bloomberg wrote.
However, China’s independent refiners are also facing their own constraints: limited import quotas and higher taxes have left them struggling to maintain throughput, further limiting appetite for Russian oil.
Despite the sanctions, some refiners under restrictions—including Yulong—have turned even more to Russian crude as Western suppliers cut ties, showing how the reshuffling of global oil flows is far from complete, Bloomberg stated.
Previously, it was reported that China’s Shandong Yulong Petrochemical is sharply increasing its intake of Russian oil after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on the company earlier this month.
-457ad7ae19a951ebdca94e9b6bf6309d.png)
