Oil tankers docked at the port of Sinopec Yaogang oil depot in Nantong, Jiangsu province, June 2019. (Photo: Reuters)
Seaborne oil imports from Russia to China will rise to near a record 1.1 million bpd in May, much higher than 750,000 bpd in the first quarter and 800,000 bpd in 2021. , according to estimates by analytics firm Vortexa.
Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese oil and gas group Sinopec, is the biggest buyer, along with Zhenhua Oil, a subsidiary of Chinese defense group Norinco, according to shipping data.
Livna, registered in Hong Kong, recently emerged as the main carrier to bring oil from Russia to China by sea, Reuters quoted industry traders as saying.
Sinopec declined to comment. Zhenhua and Livna did not respond to requests for comment.
These companies appear to be filling the void left by Western customers after Russia launched a military campaign in Ukraine.
The United States, Great Britain and several other countries banned oil imports from Russia not long after the conflict broke out. The European Union (EU) is still discussing the sixth package of sanctions, including a ban on buying Russian oil. Many European refiners have stopped buying Russian oil for fear of violating sanctions or facing an adverse public reaction.
Vitol and Trafigura – the world’s two largest oil traders – halted purchases of Russian oil giant Rosneft before the EU regulation took effect on May 15, to ban oil purchases unless “extremely necessary”. ” to secure Europe’s energy needs.
“The situation changed drastically after Vitol and Trafigura stopped buying, creating a big gap, and only companies that bring value and are trusted by Russian partners can fill this gap,” said a trader. unnamed Chinese person told Reuters.
Traders say they are buying Russian oil at $29 a barrel lower than it was before the conflict broke out. This brings huge profits to Chinese refiners, who are facing a decline in profits because of the slowing economy. This price is much lower than oil bought from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and America.
In addition, China still buys about 800,000 barrels of oil per day from Russia through the pipeline that both sides have signed, bringing the total amount of Chinese oil imported from Russia in May to nearly 2 million barrels per day, ensuring 15 % of China’s total demand.
For Russia, selling oil also helps it maintain its economy against a series of Western sanctions.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: Soha.vn – Read the original article here
