China Oil and Gas Group spoke out about the purchase of Russian oil at a discount

PetroChina is not looking for any kind oil and gas no discount from Russia and only buy fuel from the country through existing contracts – Bloomberg quoted the leader of China’s state-owned oil and gas group as saying on May 6.

During PetroChina’s Q1 earnings meeting, chief financial officer Chai Shouping confirmed that transactions with Russian partners are going normally. Transactions continue to be paid in USD or euros, although some Russian banks are sanctioned because of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Since the military campaign, a number of countries have refused to import Russian oil, forcing Moscow to slash prices sharply to find new buyers. Eg, India is bargaining with Russia to reduce oil prices down to below 70 USD/barrel to compensate for possible risks, such as financial security for the purchase. This price is much lower than the standard market price of more than 100 USD.

PetroChina also said it plans to step up exploration and production efforts as higher oil prices signal a new supply-demand reality, but gave no specifics. PetroChina is the only of China’s three state-owned oil and gas groups to reduce its capital expenditure budget this year.