China saved $20 billion on Russian oil
Since 2022, China has saved about $20 billion by purchasing Russian oil at a discount.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin explained that the savings were made possible by more favourable prices for Russian oil compared to Middle Eastern suppliers.
In 2024, Russia accounted for almost 19% of China’s energy imports, worth about $100 billion, becoming the country’s largest oil supplier.
The discounts on Russian oil stem from the war in Ukraine and US sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil. In the summer of 2022, discounts reached 16% compared to prices offered by other suppliers. By 2025, they began to rise again — 2.8% in the first quarter and 6.3% in the second.
India, the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, saved $12.6 billion between 2022 and 2025. The combined discounts for China and India could exceed $33 billion — equivalent to one and a half years of Russia’s federal budget for higher education.
