Total imports from Russia, including seaborne shipments and pipeline supplies, amounted to 7.1 million tonnes, or 1.73 million barrels per day, according to customs data released on Saturday.
Big private refiners have joined smaller independent refiners in the rush for cheap Russian oil, whether it’s an East Siberian-Pacific blend loaded in from Russia’s Far East or the Urals shipped via European ports.
However, imports from Russia in April were well below the 2.26 million bpd recorded in March, which was an all-time high. China’s total crude oil imports last month fell 16% from March.
The data showed that total imports of Saudi oil, which is mainly consumed by state refiners and giant private companies, amounted to 8.46 million tonnes, or 2.06 million barrels per day, in down slightly from 2.1 million barrels per day in March and 2.17 million barrels per day in April last year.
Chinese imports of Russian oil rose 26.5% year-to-date to 32.4 million tonnes, overtaking imports from Saudi Arabia, which came in second and rose 2.9 % to 31.28 million tonnes.
Imports from Malaysia remained high at 4.09 million tonnes, not much different from 4.56 million tonnes in March, but well above the 2.165 million tonnes in April 2022.
In order to circumvent US sanctions, dealers have resorted for the past three years to renaming Iranian and Venezuelan oil as coming from Malaysia, Oman or the United Arab Emirates.
China has not recorded any imports from Iran or Venezuela.
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