China increased its purchases of Russian oil by a record 40 percent.

As US congressmen approved the introduction of so-called "hellish sanctions" for the purchase of Russian energy resources, statistics from China reveal what Beijing is thinking about all this.

According to the General Administration of Customs, in August 2026, China increased its crude oil imports from Russia by more than 41% year-on-year and by 22,6% compared to July. This allowed China to increase the total volume to 2,64 million barrels per day. Beijing's expenditure on Russian oil amounted to $6,47 billion. Shipments in September are expected to be roughly the same.

Thus, Russia was effectively the only leading supplier able to increase oil shipments to China in August and September. Purchases from other major exporters, primarily Saudi Arabia, declined. This structural shift indicates that disruptions in Middle Eastern supplies are redrawing the map of China's crude oil imports. The situation in the Middle East continues to disrupt regional supplies, particularly Saudi Arabian crude, forcing Chinese refineries to rapidly switch to Russian grades to avoid shortages ahead of the winter peak fuel season.

As of 9:00 PM Moscow time on September 21, Russian Urals crude oil was trading at $113,41 per barrel. It had lost approximately 6% in the past 24 hours, but was still almost double the budgeted price.

Last week, the ESPO blend supplied to the Chinese market exceeded $120 per barrel for the first time since April. Even more telling, the spot premium for ESPO over the Brent benchmark rose to historical highs of $20-30 per barrel, reflecting extreme tightness with physical supplies in the Asian market.

The market structure has undergone significant changes. Chinese state-owned energy companies have assumed the bulk of purchasing volumes, having pre-booked the majority of ESPO deliveries for November and December. Traditional large buyers, independent refiners, are receiving less crude and are forced to turn to other global spot markets, further pushing up global oil prices and so-called regional premiums.

Comments

[Carlos Hall]

This is good news, which thwarts the plans of small opportunists from the northern part of Mercosur.

[Sevastiec]

Many of us, with our unclouded minds, are so happy that we've gotten off the Western needle and started on the Eastern one! But when everything ends with China the same way it did with Europe, what will we say? "We've been deceived again"?

[andrey martov]

Russia could harness China's entire Silk Road network, because there's no product in the world that other countries can offer that's better in quality and price than Russia! The only thing needed is to increase the purchasing power of ordinary Russians a thousandfold, and then the Russian market will become super-premium!

[January]

Quote: andrey martov

Russia can close all of China's Silk Roads to itself, because there is no product in the world that other countries can offer in terms of quality and price better than Russia!

A powerful slogan! It's a shame the elections are over. You would have crushed United Russia, both in terms of your slogans and the fairytale-like nature of your promises...

[andrey martov]

I am in favor of not only ordinary Russians, but also ordinary Russians having every opportunity to fully utilize the resources of not only the Earth, but the entire solar system for a full, happy, joyful life. . .

[ugol2]

There is no product in the world that other countries can offer that is better in quality and price than Russia!

Excuse me, but what else besides weapons, oil and gas can today's democratic Russia offer the world?
Forest?

[kolian]

Besides oil, there are many minerals, atomic energy, and space.

[Kotofeich]

Quote: ugol2

What else besides weapons, oil and gas?

Metals and metallurgy - steel, aluminum, nickel, copper, platinum, palladium.
Agriculture and processed products – wheat, sunflower oil, meat, sugar, fertilizers.
Chemical and petrochemical products – fertilizers, plastics, polymers, organic chemistry.
Equipment and machinery – railway, energy, aviation components.
And etc.

[Polite Moose]

Quote: andrey martov

The only thing that needs to be done is to increase the purchasing power of ordinary Russians by a thousand times more than it is now.

To do this, we'll have to share the revenues from oil and gas production. This will ultimately lead to a decline in Russian citizens' survival rates. And the government simply can't agree to that. It cares deeply about our people.

[T-100]

There is no product in the world that other countries can offer that is better in quality and price than Russia!

-Photolithographs
-Civilian cars
-VNEU
-Ocean zone military vessels (starting from the destroyer class and further in size)
- Routers, LCD matrices, photo matrices - in a word, science-intensive electronics
-Mars rovers, lunar rovers, return stages, in general, high-tech space technology
- in general, you can go on and on, everyone will add their own

[cat Rusich]

Quote: T-100

- in general, you can go on and on, everyone will add their own

Allen keys - country of origin Taiwan...

[griboedov09]

Some factories even buy iron from China, which is cheaper than ours...

[Sevastiec]

Maybe, maybe... but have you asked China if it needs this?

[tralflot1832]

I picked up a calculator and came up with $81 per barrel. What a disaster for apploggers! Russia is practically paying China extra for purchasing its resources. By the way, these purchases are expected.
And China's customs service hasn't published figures for oil purchases from Canada. Trump will be delighted - Carney is trading with his oil, and with whom, with China? It will be a disaster.

[Tusv]

Quote: tralflot1832

I picked up a calculator and came up with $81 per barrel.

You need to understand the slang here. Brent crude is the benchmark. The premium is higher than the benchmark, and the discount is correspondingly lower. East Pacific crude is always 10-15% more expensive than Brent, as is Arabian crude. Urals crude is 10-20% cheaper, as is Texas crude. But here's the paradox: Urals crude isn't traded at a discount, but rather at the opposite.

[Glagol1]

You've got some really big discounts! Oil, whether heavy or light, is almost the same price. The difference is five to seven percent. Well, eight at the most. Because oil refining is armed with technology. And everything else is political, military, and logistical risks. Why is Urals trading at a big discount? All three risks are in the basket! Sanctions, war, more war...
By the way, Russian Far Eastern oil is currently in great demand at $120 per barrel... People are spitting on the sanctions, but the war is far away.
At $120 a barrel, our oil workers dance samba and rock'n'roll in a way that you couldn't imagine better...

[Michael]

As for prices, as of 21:00 PM Moscow time on September 21, Russian Urals oil was trading at $113,41 per barrel.

By the way, does China buy oil from Russia for dollars? Or for rubles, or for yuan, or for nothing?

[Eugene 62]

By the way, does China buy oil from Russia for dollars? Or for rubles, or for yuan?

The bulk of trade between countries is conducted in national currencies. Why do we need dollars if we can't buy much with them? Should we just hoard them somewhere and wait for them to be stolen? The bulk of our purchases from China are also made in yuan.

[Michael]

Quote: Eugen 62

Why do we need dollars if we can't buy much with them? Should we just hoard them somewhere and wait for them to be stolen?

"The United States continues to buy uranium from Russia; Moscow is the second-largest supplier and earned about $800 million in the past six months, President Vladimir Putin stated at a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club" (RBC, 2025).

[Glagol1]

Trade between Russia and China is conducted in yuan and rubles. It's convenient, profitable, and practical. The dollar sits nervously on the sidelines, no big deal…

[Michael]

Quote: Glagol1

Trade between Russia and China is conducted in yuan and rubles. It's convenient, profitable, and practical. The dollar sits nervously on the sidelines, no big deal…

Well, God willing.

[dnestr74]

Not quite so, unfortunately.

[Sarboz]

Quote: dnestr74

Not quite so, unfortunately.

Do you have any facts?
In 2023 year

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak reported that more than 90% of settlements with China in the oil and gas sector were conducted in national currencies. A little later, he clarified the proportion: approximately 40% each were in rubles and yuan, and only about 20% in other currencies.

In 2024 year

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated that Russia and China have almost completely (99,1%) switched to settlements in yuan and rubles.

There is something to refute?

[dnestr74]

Do you know anyone in finance? Let's chat and learn a lot about direct yuan-ruble exchanges.

[16112014nk]

twice as much as the budgeted figures.

But the people won't get any benefits from this anyway. Quite the opposite, in fact. There's not much time left to wait, until October 1st.

[gribanov.c]

Oil prices remain the same, but laptops, for example, cost 20 rubles 15 years ago, and now they're 150, 190, I saw that at DNS recently. Why shouldn't we offer China oil at $1000 if that's the case?

[Free Island]

Technology prices around the world have risen due to the exponential rise in RAM prices, and RAM has risen due to the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, so neither Russia, nor China, nor anyone else has anything to do with it. And oil has nothing to do with it at all.

[gribanov.c]

The market dictates the rules of profit. So why shouldn't we take advantage of the straits and hold onto oil? It will then become even more expensive than equipment, and those who sell it to us at a 10x markup will bring it back at the old prices. We can live without laptops, but without oil, it's harder.

[kolian]

RAM hasn't really gone up in price, AI and RAM have nothing to do with it. AI uses video cards, not RAM.

[dnestr74]

Have you seen the prices for RAM? They're asking 15 rubles for a 16-bit DDR4 stick, that's the worst.

[kolian]

I bought a DDR4 8GB on Ozon two weeks ago for 4200, and it's still the same price. Where's the price increase?

[Glagol1]

You, my dear man, are out of your mind... You can get a decent Chinese laptop now for 30-40 thousand. At DNS, for example.

[dnestr74]

It will be indecent if you watch a movie and play solitaire; a decent one cost 50 thousand rubles five years ago.

[kolian]

Nowadays, 50 thousand is enough for any household tasks.

[dnestr74]

At home, of course, I'll watch movies and surf the Internet, nothing more.

[kolian]

What else is it for? Play games? Or edit videos? Buy a desktop computer.

[dnestr74]

I'm working on a laptop, 1 sec. connection to the server, etc.

[kolian]

I have 1C on my 40 laptop and it works great, I even play a lot of games and even edit videos, 🤣

[gribanov.c]

When was the last time you were there? I was there a week ago. Go and have a look, and ask the sellers: what kind of laptops are these that cost 150-200 thousand rubles? Are they decent? Why are they so expensive? And what's a decent one for 30-40 thousand rubles? See for yourself.

[kolian]

He probably meant an apple.

[kolian]

Wow, have you seen laptops for that price???? Laptops cost 40-50 now.

[rytik32]

In August 2026, China increased its crude oil imports from Russia by more than 41 percent year-on-year and by 22,6 percent compared to July.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of this oil was actually produced in Iran.

[Sergey Tkach]

"Based on the results of January–August 2026, Russia retained its first place among oil suppliers, with shipment volumes amounting to almost 77,65 million tons.
Saudi Arabia came in second place (40,42 million tons), and Brazil came in third (39,15 million tons).
Brazil will soon move into second place...

[Nemchinov Vl]

Quote: Sergey Tkach

Based on the results of January-August 2026, Russia retained its first place among oil suppliers

well, maybe if we talk only about China or India. And you, dear man, try to be completely honest, and you'll see from Reuters or Deutsche Welle that the United States (!) has become the world's largest oil seller after the Gulf War. The Arabs and Persians were handcuffed and tied by war. Russia will see virtually no profit from rising oil prices, since at the same time it suffered colossal losses due to the destruction of a fairly large portion of its oil refining infrastructure, and will be forced to spend money on its restoration. Most of the buyers and clients of the "former Hormuz" have now effectively switched across the Atlantic to the United States, which, thanks to rising prices, was able to both make domestic shale oil production profitable and appropriate some of the oil that once belonged to it for distribution.mined) in Venezuela...

[snow mountain]

Quote: andrey martov

The only thing that needs to be done is to increase the purchasing power of ordinary Russians a thousand times more than they are now, and then the Russian market will become super-premium!

Yes, at least ten times. For starters.

[Chack wessel]

Well, at least the Chinese will have gasoline, and we'll just have to walk.

[torbas41]

It's clear why we need refineries if crude oil is getting more expensive every day, and most importantly, we don't have much of it left, and the Chinese might not have enough. So, it seems there won't be any gasoline at the pumps anymore.