Posted on 10/23/2025 7:58:43 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Four major state-owned Chinese oil companies have suspended their purchases of seaborne Russian oil in response to the new sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Rosneft and Lukoil, according to a Reuters report, citing anonymous trade sources.
The suspension, if confirmed, would put Russia under major economic pressure to end its war on Ukraine. China is a key strategic partner of Russia. Beijing's large-scale oil purchases have aided Moscow through punishing Western sanctions related to its invasion of Ukraine. The four oil firms involved are PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and Zhenhua Oil, per Reuters.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
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so they say
“citing anonymous trade sources”
So China is able to simply ‘find’ 10 million barrels of oil PER DAY, floating around on tankers somewhere. So, yet ANOTHER case of government officials putting out fake news with the hope that, maybe, perhaps, hopefully, this time it will turn out to be real. All that wouldn’t matter much if it wasn’t, continuously, being SPAMMED here.
Interesting if true.
Some short sighted nerd forgot to factor in the Russia to China oil pipelines.
Why ship when you simply have to pump?
That is a factor.
Chinese import of Russian oil is about 2.1 million bpd. 1.4 mbpd is by sea, the vast majority of which is imported by independent refinery arrays. The Govt refineries are not the primary importers.
So about 700K bpd is arriving in China by pipeline. It looks like 800-900K bpd are independent refiners not very far inland but not owned by PetroChina (the big govt refiner).
China doesn’t really have anywhere else it can get 2.1 mbpd. No one else has that sort of free capacity for export — having pre-existing customers. This has been reality for quite some time.
One does wonder at China’s response to their refiners getting sanctioned. There were suggestions they might do a deal for their rare earth export controls, but this event is unlikely to encourage that.
A case can be made for Russia, China and India having isolated the US and EU from the world community, and it will be noted as being due to their behavior.
You can only pump so much Sh#t through a goose (so to speak).
Meaning that the pipelines do not satisfy their required needs.
There also may be Chinese refineries that are not hooked up to pipelines from Russia. That is because typically is was cheaper to buy crude by Supertanker delivery.
Almost all major refineries in the world are built where they can accept delivery by tanker vessel. This is why back during the beginning of Covid the futures price of WTI(West Texas Intermediate Crude) literally sold for LESS THAN ZERO.
That is because all the companies that have tanks to store the oil in Texas were full. They could not accept any more TRUCKLOAD Tanker deliveries.
That is because the refineries are set up to get oil delivered by pipeline or Supertanker. Other forms of oil delivery MAY get discounted in price.
This is the goal of the Trump administration. Force China and India to lower their Russian oil purchases by putting tariffs on their exports to the USA. The lower price FOB/barrel in Russia means Vlad’s revenues are down.
China and India are the main purchasing countries of Russian
oil since the Ukraine war embargoes. These two countries are already buying Russian oil at a large discount to the spot price. This makes the price even lower.
It is all being done to put pressure on Vlad to end the war.
Few pipelines operate at maximum (nameplate) capacity and an increase in capacity operation might handle the extra volume.
This effort could be greatly limited or mitigated in effect.
Russia exports crude oil to China primarily through two main pipeline routes: the Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline and the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline. The ESPO pipeline, spanning 4,857 km from Taishet in eastern Siberia to the Pacific terminal at Kozmino, is the key route for Russian oil to reach mainland China, Japan, and South Korea.
Since the pipelined oil arrives at an ocean terminal, as you noted there will be refineries nearby, so distance from pipeline to refinery is not a factor.
The second pipeline is from Khazakstan to China but is contracted to add and blend 200K bpd from Russia. It also goes to a refinery complex.
So, no. The pipeline flow remains.
As to revenue loss, it’s about barrels more than money because Russia (and China, and India) have their own central banks that can create infinite money.
See reply 9. You force the sh#t through.
It is all being done to put pressure on Vlad to end the war.
I get that, but this is just a stopgap measure with no real outcome predictably if it can be circumvented.
No, the Russian pipelines for oil to China are near capacity. The ASPO pipeline does 500-600K bpd and another 200K bpd is intermixed in the Khazak pipeline, with Khazak oil.
The big Power of Siberia pipelines are for nat gas, with one underway and the other in construction.
These sanctions are going to be hyped, but I do not see anything significant in all this, especially with Russia having its own central bank and a much larger population.
Overall, it looks much like the ongoing effort to fight the war in the media. When this fails, the next steps start to get dangerous, though by then the geography on the ground may have become compelling.
This article is a hoax
So, what you are saying is that this article is BS propaganda.
That it will not really do much to put pressure on Russia?
Ha ha , typical
It looks like it might be a good time to be a tanker truck driver in Russia. Plenty of work prospects ahead.
/sarcasm
No not at all. The companies listed, from whatever their source is, do not represent the majority of purchases of Russian oil. That comes from smaller refineries in China. They are the bulk of import.
Added to the pipelines that are not affected.
It’s just not a big portion of the 2.1 million bpd, in those government refineries.
The article lists some specifics. I am just laying out numbers to define the magnitude of those specifics. You can do it too. Ask the AIs for the barrel flow totals.
[2026]
North Korea launches oil exploration program near Chinese border
North Korea strikes oil - two barrels at least
North Korea leases tankers from PRC
North Korea strikes oil deal with Russia
PRC strikes oil near North Korean border - massive find
This is also possible:
some Russian oil -> Iran
more Iranian oil -> China
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