BBC News:-
Russia has become China’s biggest supplier of oil as the country sold discounted crude to Beijing amid sanctions over the Ukraine war.
This comes in the wake of a February meeting where the two countries said their friendship had “no limits”.
Encouraged by lower prices, Chinese firms have ramped up purchases of Russian oil this year.
Official figures show that imports of Russian oil rose by 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May.
The supply, which includes supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipments by sea from Russia’s European and Far Eastern ports, totalled nearly 8.42m tonnes last month, according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
That pushed Saudi Arabia – formerly China’s biggest source of crude oil – into second place with 7.82m tonnes.
