July figures show that Russia was China’s main oil supplier for the third month in a row.
Chinese refiners purchased Russian oil, while cutting shipments from Angola and Brazil.
China purchased 7.15 million tonnes of Russian oil, an increase of 7.6 percent from one year ago, according to statistics from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
Of note, while Russian oil exports to China in July reached the equivalent of about 1.68 million barrels per day, this was less than in May, when China purchased nearly 2 million barrels per day from Russia.
China remains Russia’s largest oil customer.
Meanwhile, Chinese oil imports from Saudi Arabia increased in July, compared to June, to 6.56 million tonnes, or 1.54 million bpd.
Still, this was slightly below the amount of Saudi imports to China from one year ago.
China’s year-to-date imports of Russian oil reached 48.45 million tonnes, an increase of 4.4 percent on the year, though less than Saudi Arabia, which supplied 49.84 million tonnes.
As China’s demand for oil remained below normal, its crude oil imports fell in July by 9.5 percent from one year earlier.
Due to China’s purchasing Russian crude this year, Chinese purchases from Angola and Brazil, fell 27 percent and 58 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Additionally, China reported no oil imports from Venezuela or Iran in July.
