China turns up oil tap from Russia as purchases of US crude remain suspended

Beijing’s deepening energy trade with Moscow makes Russia top source of China’s crude oil imports, while analyst sees paused US imports as a bargaining chip

China’s crude oil imports remained robust in July, fuelled by higher Russian shipments, while China’s purchases from the US remained suspended for a second straight month.

The latest customs data shows that the volume of inbound crude oil reached 47.2 million tonnes in July, up 11.5 per cent from a year earlier.

China purchased 8.71 million tonnes of crude oil from Russia, making it the top source of China’s crude imports last month, according to the official data. This marked a year-on-year increase of 16.8 per cent, with its northern neighbour supplying nearly a fifth of crude imports. Meanwhile, China’s last import of crude oil from the US was in May.

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