Russia Surpasses Saudi Arabia as China's Top Oil Supplier

Russia takes the top spot among China's oil suppliers outpacing Saudi Arabia whose selling prices in Asia are too high, according to press reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia has outpaced Saudi Arabia as the main oil exporter to China, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Following the deterioration of Russia's relations with the West over Ukraine, Moscow began seeking new energy markets and increased its cooperation with China, including in the oil and gas sector.

According to data emailed to the agency by the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs (GAC,) China's imports from Russia in May increased by 20 percent from the previous month to a record 3.9 million tonnes (4.3 short tons), an equivalent to 927,000 barrels per day. At the same time, Saudi supplies dropped by 42 percent from April to 3 million tonnes.

"Russia is using its good relationship with China to increase supplies and has now taken the top spot. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is losing its crown as its selling prices in Asia haven’t been attractive enough," the agency quoted Gao Jian, an analyst at the SCI International and a Shandong-based energy consultant, as saying.

Bloomberg added that in May Saudi Arabia was overtaken by Angola, which moved to the number-two spot with 3.2 million tonnes of crude sales to China, a 14-percent increase from April.

In 2013, Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) struck a $270-billion deal on the delivery of 365 million tonnes of oil to China over 25 years.

On Saturday, Rosneft and China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) signed at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum a contract for the delivery of 200,000 tonnes of crude oil on a monthly basis to the Chinese company.