By Our Special Correspondent
Russia has become China's largest oil supplier as Ukraine sells off crude oil to Beijing amid sanctions over the war, media reports said.
Russia's oil imports rose to a record 55 percent in May from a year ago, with Saudi Arabia displaced as China's largest provider, the News reported.
China has increased Russia's oil purchases despite declining demand due to Covid controls and a slowing economy.
Chinese companies, including state refining giant Synopec and state-owned Genhua Oil, have increased Russian crude purchases in recent months as buyers in Europe have offered huge discounts and ignored US-Russian power over sanctions on its war on Ukraine.
According to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs, imports into China, supplies pumped through the eastern Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipped by sea, stood at about 8.42 million tons last month.
It has overtaken Saudi Arabia - formerly China's largest crude oil producer - to be second with 1.5m tones.
In March, the US and UK said Russia would ban oil, but the European Union was working to end Russia's dependence on gas, with Western countries increasing their economic response to the Ukraine attack.
At the time, US President Joe Biden said the move was aimed at "the main artery of the Russian economy."
Energy exports are a vital source of revenue for Russia but the move is also likely to impact Western consumers.
Despite falling exports in May, Russia earned nearly $ 100 billion from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country's invasion of Ukraine, a report said last week.
The European Union accounted for 61 percent of these imports, valued at nearly $ 59 billion.
Overall, Russian oil and gas exports are falling and Moscow's revenue from energy sales also plummeted from a high of $ 1 billion a day in March.
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