China Emerges as Russia’s Top Oil Market After Indian Imports Shrink Under Tariffs
Russian crude shipments have shifted sharply toward China, with deliveries hitting their highest level in five months, as U.S. tariffs choke flows to India.
The Gaze reports this, referring to tanker-tracking data cited by Bloomberg.
In the four weeks to August 31, Russia’s exports to India dropped below 1.3 million barrels per day – around 30% lower than the March peak.
Even if all unassigned tankers were redirected to Indian ports, flows would still fall by roughly 550,000 barrels per day, or 28% from that high.
China, by contrast, has stepped in to absorb discounted volumes. Deliveries surged to 1.28 million barrels per day in late August, nearly matching India’s diminished intake and marking the highest level since March.
Overall, Russia’s seaborne crude shipments climbed to a seven-week high of 3.49 million barrels per day, lifting the four-week average to 3.15 million barrels per day.
The rebound followed the restart of exports from the Sakhalin-2 project in the Far East and a partial recovery at the Ust-Luga terminal in western Russia, which had been damaged by a Ukrainian drone strike. Additional flows were diverted to the nearby port of Primorsk.
The realignment underscores the immediate effect of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to double tariffs on Indian goods to 50% in response to New Delhi’s persistent imports of Russian oil.
The penalties, coupled with European Union sanctions targeting India’s Rosneft refinery, have inadvertently widened the discount on Russian barrels.
On September 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Beijing, where they highlighted energy, transport, and defense as pillars of their expanding partnership. Putin called closer cooperation with China “a foreign policy priority.”
Ukraine’s drone campaign has added further turbulence to Russia’s oil logistics. Attacks on at least eight refineries in August forced over 13% of domestic processing capacity offline, increasing the pool of crude available for export.
Despite the export rebound, Russia is selling its oil at increasingly steep discounts. Urals crude shipped from Baltic and Black Sea ports averaged around $54–55 per barrel in late August – well below the international benchmark.
As The Gaze reported earlier, Russia delivered liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a sanctioned plant to a Chinese terminal for the first time.