China Buys More Russian Oil

China’s crude oil imports from Russia rose by 8.6% in April from a year earlier, as larger private refiners also embarked on purchases of the discounted fuel.
Arrivals from Russia, including seaborne shipments and supplies via pipelines, totaled 7.1 million tons or 1.73 million barrels per day, Reuters reported.
Large private integrated refiners have joined smaller independent plants in snapping up lower-priced Russian oil, both the ESPO blend loaded from Russia’s Far East and Urals from European ports.
The April arrivals were well below the record of 2.26 million bpd reached in March, however. 
China’s overall crude oil imports last month posted a 16% decline from March.
Imports of Saudi oil, mostly consumed by state refiners and mega private plants, totaled 8.46 million tons or 2.06 million bpd, the data showed, slightly down from 2.1 million bpd in March and 2.17 million bpd a year earlier.
Year-to-date imports from Russia rose 26.5% to 32.4 million tons, outpacing second-ranked Saudi Arabian imports that grew by 2.9% to 31.28 million tons.
Imports from Malaysia remained elevated at 4.09 million tons, not far off March’s 4.56 million tons and sharply higher than the 2.165 million tons in April of 2022.