China is preparing to import record volumes of oil from Russia

China is expected to import record volumes of oil from Russia by the end of March. This applies to two varieties - the Sokol and ESPO brands. Bloomberg reports this with reference to a study by Kpler.

According to the most conservative preliminary forecasts, the average volume of supplies from the Russian Federation will be 1,7 million barrels per day of crude oil, as local oil refineries are at the peak of imports and are achieving record volumes of purchases of all grades with any type of delivery.



Chinese imports of Sokol are expected to reach a record 479 bpd in March, up three times from February imports of the Russian grade, according to Kpler.

However, we are not only talking about raw materials that are supplied by sea (and which India has partially abandoned), the statistics also include sharply increasing volumes of supplies through pipelines, that is, the ESPO brand. According to preliminary data, the volume will reach 1,2 million barrels per day.

By this point, Chinese refineries had almost completely bought up the 10 million barrels of crude once destined for India stuck at sea, and increased orders directly to their needs. Most likely, this is due to persistent forecasts that oil prices may soon rise significantly. Therefore, local refineries decided to create a strategic reserve for this case, despite the fact that the discount on supplies from the Russian Federation is currently minimal.

Of course, at a crucial moment, Chinese buyers “suddenly” forgot and stopped paying attention to the new US and UK sanctions on raw materials from the Russian Federation, as they did recently (and as the Indian side is doing now). The favorable situation makes even international Chinese companies, represented on the world market and subject to secondary sanctions, accommodating.