Increased Chinese Crude Buying Spooks European Oil Traders
- Chinese traders snapping up Kazakhstan’s CPC Blend crude
- Europe has just all but halted oil imports from Russia
This article is for subscribers only.
China is snapping up cargoes of crude that would normally head to Europe, spooking the continent’s physical oil traders who’ve just seen imports from Russia all but halt at a time when local demand is rising.
The world’s largest oil importer already bought 5 million barrels of mostly-Kazakh crude for collection from a port in the Black Sea next month, according to traders of the grade. In daily flow terms, it’s the most since at least the start of 2021.