Sanctioned Russian Oil Exports to China Jump as STS Transfers Rise

Chinese imports of Arctic Russian crude grades are on the rise as ship-to-ship (STS) transfers from sanctioned vessels on non-sanctioned tankers offshore Malaysia and Singapore are booming, according to traders and analysts. The Biden Administration’s farewell sanctions on Russian oil trade and exports sanctioned dozens of vessels carrying the ARCO, Novy port, and Varandey crudes from Russia’s Arctic oil projects. The sanctions, slapped in early January, blacklisted dozens of vessels that Russia used to ship the ESPO crude blend from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino to China’s independent refiners.

Many of the vessels, specialized tankers, and shuttle tankers transporting Russia’s oil from the Arctic and Far East Pacific fields and production clusters to Asia have now been sanctioned. Since Chinese buyers began demanding oil to be delivered on non-sanctioned vessels, STS transfers in the South China Sea and near Singapore have been picking up, Russian oil traders have told . As many as 4 million barrels of Russia’s Arctic crude oil was transferred via STS last week, Emma Li, senior analyst at energy flows analytics firm Vortexa, told Reuters.



Another 16 million barrels of Arctic crude from Russia have either arrived or are planned to arrive in the South China Sea in April, Li added. Last month, Chinese crude oil imports rebounded to , also due to increased imports of Russian and Iranian oil. A massive reshuffling of tankers following the sanctions on Russia and Iran has allowed non-sanctioned vessels to pick up trade with Russian and Iranian oil.

Iranian crude imports into China surged to a record 1.8 million bpd in March, with Shandong alone absorbing more than 1.5 million bpd and marking a nearly 50% jump from the 2024 average, according to .

Russian crude is also on the rebound in China, with many cargoes on sanctioned tankers finding buyers in Shandong. Moreover, stranded Russian Arctic cargoes are now targeting Chinese teapot buyers via STS transfers using the dark fleet, Vortexa’s Li noted. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.

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