Russia Becomes China’s Largest Crude Supplier in 2016

Oil

China’s imports of Russian crude oil in 2016 increased by 200K b/d y-o-y to a record 1.1M b/d, making the country the largest single crude supplier to China, according to China Customs. Record annual growth in China’s crude oil imports and Chinese teapot refiners’ preference for the flexibility of Russian supply were cited as factors in boosting Russian crude flows to China, newswires report. Russia may also be able to expand its share of China’s crude market further in 2017 as the ESPO pipeline is expanded.