Sinopec, Asia’s top refiner, resumed purchases of Russian oil after a brief pause last month to assess risks from sanctions imposed by the United States on Russian entities, trade sources said on Wednesday.
Unipec, a trading arm under China’s state-run Sinopec, has bought May-loading Russian Far East ESPO Blend oil, the sources said, having been absent from the trade of March and April-loading ESPO cargoes.
It was not immediately clear why Unipec resumed purchases.
Sinopec did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The number of cargoes Unipec purchased is much lower than before the January sanctions were announced, the sources said.
The former Biden administration imposed on January 10 harsh sanctions targeting Russian producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz as well as insurers and more than 100 vessels to curtail Moscow’s oil revenue.
The sanctions caused Russian oil exports to China and India to fall while Chinese state oil firms Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil suspended purchases of Russian oil, Reuters reported last month.
ESPO Blend oil cargoes loading in May traded at premiums of about $2 per barrel against the ICE Brent benchmark on a delivered basis to China, traders said.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu, Florence Tan and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)