A “muddle” in Beijing is gripping the oil market, caused by a perfect storm of sanctions, quota shortages, and diplomatic silence. Chinese refiners are left guessing, and Russia is paying the price.
The silence came from a high-stakes Trump-Xi summit, where public readouts failed to mention the critical issue of Russian oil.
This left refiners to react to sanctions alone. State-owned Sinopec and PetroChina are canceling cargoes (reacting to US sanctions on Rosneft/Lukoil), and “teapots” are shunning crude (fearing the Yulong blacklisting).
This “buyers’ strike” has caused ESPO crude prices to plunge, hitting Moscow’s finances.
To make matters worse, many teapots are running low on domestic import quotas, limiting their ability to buy from anyone for the rest of the year.
A “Muddle” in Beijing: Quotas, Sanctions, and Silence
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