Private Chinese oil refiner Landbridge Petrochemical Co. made a surprise purchase — it bought 2 million barrels of West African crude, including Mostarda, for January delivery. Such information published Bloomberg.
This is an atypical event for China, where before that the main suppliers were Russian ESPO oil and Iranian raw materials. The reasons for this choice used to be shorter delivery routes and a better price.
This purchase by a Chinese company of African oil comes amid political uncertainty regarding US sanctions against Iran, particularly in the context of possible policy changes by the Donald Trump administration. Experts believe that if restrictions on Iran are tightened, China may be forced to review its oil supplies.
For Russia, the situation is not critical at the moment, but China’s rejection of Russian oil could be a serious blow to the country’s economy, whose budget largely depends on oil revenues. Further withdrawal of China from Russian raw materials may put Moscow in an extremely difficult economic situation.
