BEIJING: China’s crude oil imports from top supplier Russia fell 0.7% year-on-year in December to 9.33 million metric tons, or 2.2 million barrels per day, but hit the highest level for 2025.
Imports from Malaysia, the largest trans-shipment hub for sanctioned Iranian oil, fell 37.9% to 4.14 million tons, or 0.97 million bpd.
Imports from Indonesia stood at 2.19 million tons, or 0.52 million bpd, last month, down 13% from 2.52 million tons in November. China imported around 0.1 million tons of crude from Indonesia for the whole of 2024.
Reuters previously reported that the surge in imports from Indonesia pointed to a way of masking shipments of sanctioned Iranian crude trans-shipped in waters off Malaysia.
Imports from the UAE surged 116.4% year-on-year in December to 6.1 million tons, or 1.44 million bpd, reaching the highest single-month import volume on record.
Imports from Brazil surged 109.6% to 5.4 million tons, or 1.27 million bpd, reaching a record high.
Imports from the United States have remained at zero since May 2025.
There were no reported imports from Iran or Venezuela in December.
Imports from Canada surged to 2.33 million tons, or 0.55 million bpd, in December, up 49% from November and 104.5% year-on-year, hitting a record high.
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