Russia is now China’s top supplier of the fuel, supplanting Indonesia after the Southeast Asian nation deterred buyers by raising prices.

Russia's crude exports rose by 140,000 b/d on the month to average 3.36 million b/d from Aug 1-16 to remain above pre-war levels for the fifth month in a row,

China's crude stocks stood at an 11-month high of 945 million barrels in May, accounting for 63% of the country's crude storage capacity

The areas of potential cooperation include upstream and downstream businesses, engineering and construction, oilfield services, carbon capture and hydrogen.

Indeed, by 2025, companies in the steel, building materials, petrochemicals, non-ferrous metals, consumer goods, equipment manufacturing and electronics sectors with an annual revenue of CNY20m (US$2.9m) or more will have to cut their energy use by 13.5% from 2020 levels.

The company boosted coal production by 6.2% to 300 million tons and increased sales to 390 million tons.

As a result, China's crude throughput in June rose a further 1.9% month on month to 54.94 million mt in May, when the volume had rebounded 4.1% from a 35-month low of 51.81 million mt in April,

The proposal will be submitted to senior leaders, with a recommendation Beijing resume Australian imports prompted by fears European-led curbs on Russian energy will increase competition for coal from China’s main suppliers like Indonesia,

In May, India imported 819,000 barrels per day (bpd), from 277,000 bpd in April and 33,000 bpd a year ago. Russia is now the second biggest supplier to India, replacing Saudi Arabia, while Iraq continues to be the largest.

China spent $18.9 billion on Russian oil, gas and coal in the three months to the end of May, almost double the amount a year earlier, latest customs data show. Meanwhile, India shelled out $5.1 billion in the same period, more than five times the value of a year ago.