AsianOil: China becomes largest importer of Russian oil, surpassing Saudi Arabia in 2023

In a significant shift in global oil dynamics, Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the leading supplier of crude oil to China in 2023. According to the latest data, China, the world's largest crude oil importer, has been increasingly turning to Russian oil, bypassing Western sanctions in the process and capitalising on discounted prices.

Chinese customs data in the last week revealed a record-breaking import balance of 107.02mn tonnes of Russian crude oil received in the last calendar year. This figure translates to an average of 2.14mn barrels per day (bpd), a number significantly higher than imports from other major oil-exporting nations, including Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Saudi Arabia, which had previously been China's primary source of crude, itself saw a 1.8% decrease in exports to China, totaling 85.96mn tonnes. This reduction is attributed to the competitive pricing of Russian crude.

To help offset this loss in export of crude to China, Saudi Arabia has increased the flow of oil to markets in the West.

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