China’s Sinopec, the world’s top refiner by capacity, has boosted purchases of Russia’s Far East crude for delivery in the third quarter as it looks to secure cargo arrivals amid continued shipping constraints in the Middle East.
State-run Sinopec has acquired as many as 30-40 shipments, or 241,000 to 320,000 barrels per day (bpd), of Russia’s Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) for delivery between July and September, trade sources and vessel-tracking data analysts have told Reuters.
The ESPO blend loaded from Russia’s Far Eastern port of Kozmino takes only about a week to be delivered to China’s east coast refineries. It is also cheaper than similar grades from West Africa and Brazil, and of course, faster to reach China.
“Rather than broad-based import growth, demand is shifting towards barrels with greater delivery certainty and lower freight costs – primarily onshore inventories and short-haul Russian Far East cargoes,” Emma Li, lead China analyst with ship tracker Vortexa, told Reuters.
China has slashed its overall crude oil imports amid the Middle East conflict as its refiners cut run rates and authorities restricted fuel exports to protect domestic supply.
Now China has eased some of the fuel export restrictions, which could lead to a rebound in crude oil imports after the ten-year low seen in June.
But the biggest refiner Sinopec is not taking chances on Middle Eastern supply. It is snapping up Russia’s ESPO crude, with purchases not involving any sanctioned Russian entities. The supply certainty, the lower price, and the short travel time are all playing in favor of Russia’s Far Eastern crude to feed more of Sinopec’s refining capacity until September.
Sinopec and other major state-controlled Chinese refiners had suspended purchases of Russian crude in October 2025 when the U.S. sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil. But the Chinese refining giants resumed Russian purchases in March this year as the Iran war trapped the Middle East’s oil supply in the Gulf and the U.S. waived sanctions on Russian crude sales.
With supply from Saudi Arabia and other top Middle Eastern producers now at risk, Sinopec is back to relying more on Russian crude.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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