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China boosts oil imports from Russia to 1.1 mln bpd

The country receives around 800,000 barrels of Russian oil per day through pipelines, the media report

BEIJING, May 20. /TASS/. China increases imports of Russian oil at a large discount compared to competitors from other countries, Reuters reported on Friday, citing an analysis of shipping data.

Thus, China's imports of Russian oil via sea routes are expected to grow to an almost record-breaking 1.1 mln bpd in May, compared to 750,000 bpd in Q1 of 2022 and 800,000 bpd in 2021.

The agency noted that China separately receives around 800,000 barrels of Russian oil per day through pipelines in accordance with government agreements. Thus, the volume of oil imports from Russia could reach almost 2 mln barrels per day, which equals to 15% of China's total demand.

China’s General Administration of Customs previously reported that imports of Russian oil to China in January-April decreased by around 7.4% year-on-year reaching 25.6 mln tonnes. However, according to Reuters, Beijing is now filling the vacuum left by the Western countries, which refused to supply Russian energy carriers due to the special military operation in Ukraine.

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