GreenergyDaily

Oct. 23, 2025

Several suppliers have cancelled sales of Middle Eastern and Canadian oil to China's Yulong Petrochemical after the UK imposed sanctions on the refiner, which is likely to push it to buy more Russian crude, multiple sources familiar with the deals said.

The refiner, China's newest with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day and one of the country's largest single Russian oil customers, is among the entities Britain designated last week to curb Moscow's oil revenues used to fund the Ukraine war.

Suppliers that are unwinding supply deals include European majors TotalEnergies, BP as well as Saudi Aramco and Kuwait Petroleum Corp, trading house Trafigura, and Chinese state trader PetroChina International, the sources said.

Most of the cancellations apply to spot cargoes that were due to load after November 13, when the sanctions take effect. They include two shipments of 2 million barrels of crude each from Kuwait Petroleum and Aramco, according to three of the sources, with specific knowledge of these deals.

PetroChina International and TotalEnergies each exited transactions supplying Access Western Blend, a heavy crude exported from Canada, said two other sources, who have knowledge of those transactions.