The purchases of private Chinese refineries show how some importers are bypassing traditional access routes to cheap Russian oil, helping Beijing stay in the background while the West slams sanctions on Moscow.
It is noted that an employee of a refinery in Shandong said that since the start of the special operation in Ukraine, he had not publicly disclosed data on transactions with Russian oil suppliers.
Earlier, U.S. State Department adviser Derek Chollet said that Russia "will not be easy" to find alternative buyers for its own energy resources, and supplies to China will be hampered by a lack of infrastructure.