China bought 22.24 percent more Russian oil in June than it had in May, according to data from the General Administration of Customs in China, cited by Reuters and Bloomberg.
Russia sent about 6.65 million tonnes (or 1.62 million bpd) of oil to the People’s Republic of China last month, which was 1.21 million tonnes more than it shipped to the country in May.
Russia still couldn’t exceed Saudi Arabia in its exports to China, which remains Beijing’s main oil supplier.
In June, the kingdom exported 7.2 million tonnes of oil meaning that Russia was running as a close second.
The United States also increased how much oil it exported to China in June by about 32.7 percent to 1.42 million tonnes. Washington is falling behind Saudi Arabia, Russia, Oman, Angola, Iraq, Brazil and the UAE dramatically in its supplies to China.
Beijing cut its purchases of oil in the second quarter of 2021 because of the rise in global prices but it still needs the foreign actors to help it sustain its tremendous appetite for energy. Some 70 percent of its national oil consumption is provided by foreign imports.