Russia has become China’s biggest oil supplier despite sanctions over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Imports of Russian oil rose by 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May—surpassing Saudi Arabia as China’s biggest provider.
Russia sold discounted crude to Beijing in bulk despite demand dampened by the pandemic and a slowing global economy.
In February, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During a call between the two nations, Xi told Putin that it is important to “abandon the Cold War mentality, attach importance to and respect the reasonable security concerns of all countries, and form a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism through negotiations.”
China has remained neutral in the Russia-Ukraine war, claiming that it respects “all countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“China supports Russia in resolving the issue through negotiation with Ukraine,” according to a readout of the call.
According to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs, the imports into China, which include supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipments by sea, totaled nearly 8.42m tonnes last month.
This comes after Germany announced recently that it will be relying more on coal for its electricity supply after Russia reduced its gas deliveries to the country.
“To reduce gas consumption, less gas must be used to generate electricity. Coal-fired power plants will have to be used more instead,” said German green party Minister Robert Habeck. “That’s bitter, but it’s simply necessary in this situation to lower gas usage.”
Neighboring country Austria also announced that it is converting a reserve, gas-fired power plant so that it can produce electricity with coal.
“The federal government and the energy group VERBUND have agreed to convert the Mellach (Styria) district heating power plant, which is currently shut down, so that in an emergency it can once again produce electricity from coal (not gas),” Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s office said in a statement.
The invasion of Ukraine has been a headache for the European Union, prompting most countries to build up inventories and seek alternative suppliers
With skyrocketing gas prices, it isn’t just motorists who are filling up when they spot a deal. That, along with soaring crude costs, helped Russia grow revenues following its invasion of Ukraine.
