China reduced daily purchases of Russian Arctic oil grades, Novy Port, ARCO and Varandey, by more than a fifth in January-October this year compared with the same 2023 period, according to data and calculations by analytical firm Vortexa and Reuters.
China’s oil buying has been in decline during recent months amid weak fuel demand and low margins. China’s crude oil imports fell for a sixth straight month in October, its customs data showed on Thursday.
In July China ceded the status of Russia’s largest oil importer to India, but won it back in August.
Supplies of the three Arctic oil grades dropped to some 115,000 barrels per day (bpd) in (or some 4.9 million metric tons) in Jan-Oct from some 149,000 bpd a year ago. On a daily basis, they were down almost 21%, Reuters calculations showed.
China has the most favourable location for Russian oil imports among major oil buyers as the states share a border, allowing Beijing to receive the lion’s share of oil from Moscow via pipelines – ESPO and Atasu-Alashankou via Kazakhstan.
China is also the largest buyer of Russian eastern oil grades loading by sea – ESPO Blend and Sakhalin’s Sokol and Sakhalin Blend.
Arctic grades include light Novy port, Varandey and heavy ARCO, as well as some smaller flows included in the cargoes loaded from the northern port of Murmansk.
Harsh conditions for oil production and shipping in the Arctic require the ice class vessels which commute from the oil fields feeding the larger tankers or the floating storage in Murmansk and then the cargoes are shipped overseas.
Russia’s oil companies Gazprom Neft and Lukoil are two main suppliers of oil grades from Russian northern regions: Gazprom neft produces Novy port and ARCO oil blends, while Lukoil supplies Varandey. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Complicated logistics and higher quality make the Arctic oil price higher than for Urals, but allows the production of more light oil products and is favoured by Asian refiners.
Small Chinese independent refiners, which are often drivers of additional demand, have stayed away from Russian Arctic oil grades reeling from weak margins.
India, which has closer proximity to Russia’s western ports than China, maintained its Arctic oil imports high in 2024: they stayed at around 186,000 bpd during January-October 2024, 14% up from the same period of the last year, Vortexa data shows.
Russian Arctic grades were also shipped to Oman, Brunei, Turkey and Ghana this year, according to LSEG data.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters reporters in MOSCOW, Aizhu Chen and Liu Siyi in SINGAPORE; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
