{"id":58435,"date":"2026-05-21T10:23:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/news\/china-increases-russian-oil-purchases-by-a-quarter\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T07:34:40","slug":"china-increases-russian-oil-purchases-by-a-quarter","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/news\/china-increases-russian-oil-purchases-by-a-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"China Increases Russian Oil Purchases by a Quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the first four months of 2026, China imported 40.8 million tonnes of <a href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/sposoby-dobychi-nefti\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/sposoby-dobychi-nefti\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">oil<\/a> from Russia \u2014 up 26% year on year. In value terms, supplies grew 21.5% to $20.9 billion. Russia has thus retained its position as China&#8217;s largest crude oil supplier.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saudi Arabia ranks second, but its exports to China fell 10.3% to 23 million tonnes \u2014 a direct consequence of the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted shipments from the Middle East.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Third place was taken, unexpectedly, by Brazil, which grew its deliveries by 84% to 20.9 million tonnes. Malaysia follows with 17.5 million tonnes (down 33%), while Indonesia sharply increased its exports to China \u2014 from 114,800 tonnes a year earlier to 14.1 million tonnes. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The monthly picture tells a slightly different story. In April, the physical volume of Russian oil received by China fell 10.8% compared to March, totalling 9 million tonnes. However, the value of imports rose 18.6% to $6.3 billion.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is also worth noting that China&#8217;s domestic <a href=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/dobycha-nefti-v-mire\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/shorts\/dobycha-nefti-v-mire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">oil production<\/a> is growing, albeit slowly \u2014 up 1.2% in April to 17.9 million tonnes. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sino-Russian oil cooperation continues to deepen despite month-to-month fluctuations. For Russia, this means a stable export market as it redirects trade eastward. For China, it means a reliable supplier helping to diversify feedstock sources amid global energy instability.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Source: @nefte_baza<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Image: @nefte_baza<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the first four months of 2026, China imported 40.8 million tonnes of oil from Russia \u2014 up 26% year on year. In value terms, supplies grew 21.5% to $20.9 billion. Russia has thus retained its position as China&#8217;s largest crude oil supplier. Saudi Arabia ranks second, but its exports to China fell 10.3% to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":58434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"China Increases Russian Oil Imports by a Quarter","_seopress_titles_desc":"Russia delivered 40.8 million tonnes of oil to China in four months \u2014 up 26%. Saudi Arabia cut exports due to the closed Strait of Hormuz. Read the full story.  ","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[592],"tags":[615,627],"class_list":["post-58435","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","category-oil-and-gas","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-trade-relations-and-resources"],"acf":[],"pbg_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj.webp",1280,960,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-150x113.webp",150,113,true],"medium":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-300x225.webp",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-768x576.webp",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-1024x768.webp",1024,768,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj.webp",1280,960,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj.webp",1280,960,false],"bricks_large_16x9":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-1200x675.webp",1200,675,true],"bricks_large":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-1200x900.webp",1200,900,true],"bricks_large_square":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-1200x960.webp",1200,960,true],"bricks_medium":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-600x450.webp",600,450,true],"bricks_medium_square":["https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/neft-tanker-kitaj-600x600.webp",600,600,true]},"pbg_author_info":{"display_name":"Yulia Frolova","author_link":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/author\/giulia-nikolaevna\/","author_img":false},"pbg_comment_info":" No Comments","pbg_excerpt":"In the first four months of 2026, China imported 40.8 million tonnes of oil from Russia \u2014 up 26% year on year. In value terms, supplies grew 21.5% to $20.9 billion. Russia has thus retained its position as China&#8217;s largest crude oil supplier. Saudi Arabia ranks second, but its exports to China fell 10.3% to&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/58435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/58435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58436,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/58435\/revisions\/58436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geoconversation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}