China's imports of Russian crude fall to the lowest in months

Russia's crude deliveries to its top three buyers — India, China and Turkey — declined sharply in the week to July 15, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, as significantly lower imports into China offset increased arrivals in India and Turkey.

India, China and Turkey provisionally received a total of 20.4 million barrels of Russian crude in the week ended July 15, down from 27.2 million barrels the previous week.

India remained the largest buyer of Russian crude, importing 16.8 million barrels in the week ended July 15, up from 17.3 million barrels a week earlier.

Chinese imports declined sharply week over week, with ports receiving 2.9 million barrels of Russian crude, down from 7.7 million barrels a week earlier.

Turkish imports fell to 700,000 barrels in the week ended July 15, down from 1 million barrels the previous week.

Russia also delivered 1 million barrels to Egypt, down from 3.2 million barrels a week earlier, and 700,000 barrels to Singapore, down from 1.8 million barrels. In addition, Syria provisionally received 1 million barrels from Russia.

Overall Russian crude deliveries, including 700,000 million barrels sent to the Far East for transshipments, were around 24.6 million barrels during the week, down from 34.6 million barrels during the seven days to July 8.

The Reliance Jamnagar marine terminal was the largest Indian recipient, discharging 5 million barrels of Russian crude, while Vadinar received 5 million barrels, according to CAS data.

Rizhao was the largest Chinese recipient during the week, receiving 1.4 million barrels of Russian crude. All Russian exports to Turkey were discharged at the Yarimca terminal.

Baltic Sea ports loaded 10.2 million barrels over the week, down from 14.8 million barrels during the seven days ended July 8. Despite the decrease in loadings, the region remained the busiest for Russian crude deliveries, unchanged from the previous week.

Russia's Far East region delivered only 3.6 million barrels, the lowest weekly loadings from the area since October 2025.

The Black Sea ports, in contrast, increased their crude loadings week-on-week to 7 million barrels, up from 6.3 million barrels.

Ukraine has maintained significant pressure on Russian oil and marine infrastructure in the past few months. A wave of Ukrainian drone attacks targeted at least 60 oil tankers between July 9 and July 20 in the Azov and Black Seas, including vessels chartered by ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Caspian Pipeline Consortium halted oil loading at the terminal twice in recent days. The last disruption was triggered by the attack on the Nelsa tanker, which is sanctioned by the EU and UK.

It is unclear whether the CPC terminal continued operations July 21 or if the terminal was damaged during the strike. The company did not respond to a request for comment from Platts, part of S&P Global Energy.

The Russian government has noted the first signs of stabilization in the domestic petroleum products market following the implementation of restrictive measures, according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

"Restrictions are being lifted in many regions, and this is evident in the number of petrol stations operating and the reduction in queues," Novak said in an interview televised by Russian channel Rossiya-1.

Novak added that despite some improvement, the situation in other regions remains difficult and the government is working to send additional supplies of petroleum products to troubled regions.

Russia banned exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and began importing petroleum products. The long-range vessel Garnet is heading to Russia's oil port Vitino in the White Sea with an estimated arrival date of July 26, carrying gasoline loaded at India's Vadinar terminal, CAS data show.