China reduces imports of Russian oil
For the second year in a row Russia loses to Saudi Arabia the competition for the world's largest oil market.
China, which buys more than 10% of world oil production daily, reduced imports of Russian oil in 2021, TASS reports, citing statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China.
During the year, Russian oil companies sold 79.64 million tons of oil to Chinese customers, which is 4.5% less than a year earlier. The volume of supplies shrank to the levels of 2 years ago: in 2020, Russia exported 83.57 million tons to China, in 2019 - 77.7 million tons.
According to statistics, China has replaced Russian oil with imports of Middle Eastern grades.
Saudi Arabia remains the leader for the second year in a row after increasing exports to China by 3.1% to a record 87.56 million tons.
Saudi Arabia is followed by Iraq (54.07 million tons) and Oman (44.81 million tons). Angola, which sold 39.15 million tons to Chinese consumers, closes the top 5.
China's total oil imports last year fell by 5.4%, to 512.9 million tons, but in monetary terms, the volume of supplies soared by 44% duet to increase in oil prices on the world market.
Russia received from Chinese buyers $ 40.29 billion, or 36% of the annual amount of oil revenues, which amounted to $ 110 billion, according to the Russian Central Bank.
Despite the Kremlin's attempts to direct its economic policy to the East, which are being made after the annexation of Crimea and the collapse of relations with the West, the key buyer of Russian oil remains the European Union.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, European countries import every second barrel of Russian oil going abroad. The main consumers of Russian oil in Europe are the Netherlands (11%), Germany (11%), Poland (7%) and Finland (4%).