Russia has remained China's largest crude supplier, but those flows fell to 2 million b/d (83.15 million metric tons) in the first 10 months of 2025, down 7.7% year over year, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs.

"Our cooperation in the energy sphere is of a special, strategic nature and spans the oil, gas, coal and nuclear sectors," Mishustin told Li, according to a transcript from the meeting published on Russia's government website.

The overall impact on China’s crude demand should be short-lived as traders re-route cargoes to other ports, Energy Aspects said.

Russian-origin crude liftings from Russian ports reached 3.88 million b/d, the highest since April 2024,

China, which accounts for around 40% of Indonesia's thermal coal exports at around 150 million mt/year, is a major price setter in the seaborne market, and domestic prices are often influenced by import prices.

The facility located above the Arctic circle is key for Russia’s ambition to triple LNG production by the end of the decade. While those plans were squeezed by international restrictions after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s decision to take more Russian gas amid a confrontation with the US could revive those goals.

The contract, worth CNY4.2bn ($594m), was awarded to a joint group of companies, China Energy Engineering Jiangsu Electric Power Construction No 3 Company and China National Nuclear Huachen Construction Engineering Company. They will build the nuclear islands, their auxiliary systems and part of the equipment for the balance of the station.

Trump has repeatedly threatened the largest buyers of Russian crude with sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not reached. On Aug. 6, Trump issued an executive order raising tariffs on US imports from India from 25% to 50%, in response to what Trump described on Truth Social as India's "massive" purchases of Russian crude.

Russia has often raised crude exports to China via the Arctic route during the navigation season, when voyage time to the world's top seaborne crude importer is shorter and freight costs lower.

Among the sanctioned entities is the Zhoushan Jinrun Petroleum Transfer Co., a China-operated oil terminal located within the greater Zhoushan port area.