MOSCOW: Russia blew past Saudi Arabia to become the biggest source of Chinese oil imports last year, highlighting the ineffectiveness of Western efforts to deprive the Kremlin of funds for its war in Ukraine.
The world’s biggest oil importer bought a record 107 million tons of crude from Russia in 2023, almost a quarter more than the year before, according to customs data released Monday. That compared with just under 86 million tons from Saudi Arabia. It’s the first time Russia has been China’s No. 1 supplier since 2018, and translates to around 2.15 million barrels a day.
