Moscow: As the number of sanctions against Moscow continues to increase, Russia has become China’s biggest supplier of oil as it sold discounted crude to Beijing.
This comes months after the two countries said that their friendship had “no limits”.
According to BBC, the official figures have shown that imports of Russian oil rose by 55 percent from a year earlier to a record level in May.
The Chinese General Administrative of Customs said that the imports include supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipments by sea from Russia’s European and Far Eastern ports.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia which is China’s biggest source of crude oil has ranked second place with 7.82 tonnes.
Chinese companies, including state refining giant Sinopec and state-run Zhenhua Oil, have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months after being offered heavy discounts as buyers in Europe and the US shunned Russian energy in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine, BBC reported.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the US and UK had said they would ban Russian oil, and the European Union said it has been working towards ending its dependency on Russian gas.
