China-Russia Crude Oil Trade Heats Up; Russia Uses Super Tankers to Strengthen Supply to China
As Russia’s crude oil exports to China continue to rise while India’s demand for Russian oil drops sharply, Moscow is adjusting its shipping strategy and deploying more Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs, also known as super tankers) to meet the growing demand for crude oil exports to China. Each of these super tankers can carry 2 million barrels of crude oil, which can effectively improve crude oil transportation efficiency and further consolidate the bond of China-Russia energy trade cooperation.
According to a report by Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing ship tracking data provided by Vortexa and Kpler, in recent weeks, several small oil tankers departing from Russian western ports have transferred their cargo to super tankers in the Red Sea region, after which these super tankers have diverted to China instead of India, their previous main destination. This adjustment of the transshipment model is an adaptive measure taken by Russia in response to changes in the export market pattern, and also marks that the Red Sea region is becoming a new node for Russian crude oil transshipment.
It is worth noting that the Red Sea was not previously regarded as an important Ship-to-Ship (STS) transshipment region. Russia’s decision to use this region for transshipment business this time is mainly due to constraints from the objective environment. It is reported that Malta and Greece along the Mediterranean coast are currently implementing stricter supervision on Russian oil tankers — as EU member states, the two countries have differences over the maritime transportation service ban in the EU’s 20th round of sanctions against Russia. Although the ban has not been fully implemented, supervision on Russian oil tankers has been strengthened; at the same time, the continuous enhancement of U.S. military forces in the Middle East has further compressed the space for Russia’s traditional crude oil shipping routes. Multiple factors have prompted Russia to choose to use the Red Sea region for transshipment.
Bloomberg analyzed that the advantage of super tankers lies not only in their large transportation capacity, but also in their ability to further exert the function of floating oil storage. If Russian crude oil needs to wait for buyers to appear, these super tankers can be used as temporary floating oil storage facilities to store crude oil, flexibly respond to changes in market supply and demand, and provide more buffer space for crude oil exports, which has also become one of the important considerations for Russia to deploy super tankers.
The adjustment of Russia’s shipping strategy clearly highlights the increasingly important position of China as its main crude oil export market, and also reflects that India’s role in Russia’s oil export pattern is gradually weakening. Since November 2025, China has surpassed India to become Russia’s largest buyer of seaborne crude oil. Recently, affected by factors such as U.S. pressure and difficulties in the rupee settlement mechanism, India has significantly reduced its imports of Russian oil and even stopped purchasing from the Russian spot market.
Ship tracking data released by Bloomberg last week confirmed the warming trend of China-Russia crude oil trade: China’s crude oil imports from Russia have continued to increase, fully making up for the export gap caused by Indian refiners’ suspension of spot purchases. Specific data show that as of February 18, the average daily monthly delivery volume of crude oil sent by Russia to Chinese ports reached 2.09 million barrels, a steady increase from 1.72 million barrels per day in January and 1.39 million barrels per day in December, showing a good trend of growth for three consecutive months. Imports in February are expected to hit a record high of more than 2 million barrels per day.
It is reported that the growth in China’s crude oil imports from Russia is closely related to the price concessions provided by Russia. Currently, Chinese independent refineries enjoy significant price discounts on Russian oil supplies, among which the discount for Urals crude oil shipped to China is as high as $9 to $11 per barrel, and the discount even approaches historical extremes in some periods. This price advantage has significantly boosted the enthusiasm of Chinese enterprises to import Russian oil, and further promoted the in-depth development of China-Russia crude oil trade.
Industry insiders said that the continuous warming of China-Russia crude oil trade is an independent choice made by both sides based on market demand, which is in line with the long-term interests of energy cooperation between the two countries. Russia’s use of super tankers to strengthen supply to China not only optimizes the shipping efficiency of its own crude oil exports, but also provides strong support for the diversification of China’s energy supply. The complementary cooperation between the two sides in the energy field is expected to continue to deepen, achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.
