China Increases Oil Imports From Russia At The Cost of Saudi Arabia, Angola And Kazakhstan

Posted by ETFalpha ⋅ February 23, 2016 ⋅ Leave a comment

Filed Under Angola, China, Currency Swap, Economy, EM, Emerging Markets, Energy, FM, Frontier Markets, Kazakhstan, Oil, Russia, Saudi Arabia

China Oil “Russian oil exports to China increased fifteen percent in January, as Beijing’s crude imports from Saudi Arabia decreased at the same time, according to China’s General Administration of Customs,” RT reports.

China bought 3.36 million tons of crude oil from Russia in January which is a 15% increase from the year before.
China’s January imports from Saudi Arabia fell to 4.23 million tons from 4.47 million tons in December.
China has also reduced year-on-year oil imports from Angola by 7.5% and Kazakhstan by 15.7%.

Russia’s readiness to accept the Chinese yuan as payment for oil is one of the key factors. The two countries have a financial cooperation program including a three-year ruble-yuan currency swap worth more than $20 billion.