China’s state-owned oil refineries have suspended purchases of russian crude oil supplied by sea. This step was taken after the new US sanctions against the aggressor country russia.

It was reported by Reuters with reference to its own sources.

The agency’s unnamed interlocutors said that PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC and Zhenhua Oil intend to refrain from purchasing oil from russia, which is supplied by sea. Two sources said that Unipec (Sinopec’s trading unit) stopped buying russian oil last week after the UK sanctions.

The agency writes that this is probably not a complete cessation of russian oil imports, but only a pause to assess the impact of new US sanctions.

China imports about 1.4 million barrels of oil per day by sea. Most of this volume comes from independent companies rather than state-owned ones.

Vortexa Analytics has estimated 250,000 barrels per day of purchases by Chinese state-owned refiners in the first nine months of 2025. The consulting company Energy Aspects estimates these purchases at 500,000 barrels per day.

Meanwhile, several unnamed traders told Reuters that private refiners are also likely to suspend purchases of russian oil for at least some time.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, yesterday, October 22, the US Treasury Department announced the introduction of new sanctions against russia. These are the first restrictions that Washington imposes on moscow during the presidency of Donald Trump. The sanctions include leading russian oil companies and more than three dozen of their subsidiaries.

(C) 2025 Ukrainian News Agency