China's four largest state-owned oil companies have suspended purchases of seaborne Russian crude after the Trump administration imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow's top energy firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, trade sources told Reuters on Thursday.
The decision marks the most significant disruption yet to Russia's energy exports since President Donald Trump's announcement of new measures aimed at curbing the Kremlin's war funding in Ukraine. India, another key buyer of Russian oil, is also preparing sharp reductions in imports to comply with the sanctions.
PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and Zhenhua Oil have halted new deals for Russian cargoes at least temporarily as they assess compliance risks, the sources said. The companies-among China's largest energy importers-did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While China typically imports around 1.4 million barrels of Russian oil per day by sea, most of that is purchased by smaller independent refiners known as "teapots." Vortexa Analytics estimates state refiners bought less than 250,000 barrels per day in the first nine months of 2025, while Energy Aspects placed the figure closer to 500,000 barrels.
The sanctions, announced Wednesday by the U.S. Treasury Department, target Russia's two largest oil producers as part of what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as an effort to cut off "the Kremlin's war machine." "Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire," Bessent said in a statement. "Given President Putin's refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia's two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin's war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump's effort to end yet another war."
Trump, who has sought to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, said he plans to discuss the conflict directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling Beijing's influence over Moscow "critical." Chinese officials, however, denounced the sanctions as "unilateral" and "without basis in international law."
Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec, reportedly ceased Russian purchases last week after the United Kingdom joined Washington in blacklisting Rosneft, Lukoil, and several vessels allegedly used to transport sanctioned oil. The move has already pushed up benchmark crude prices, with November-loading ESPO crude offers slipping to a premium of just $1 per barrel over ICE Brent-down from $1.70 earlier in the month.
Despite the halt in seaborne purchases, China still imports roughly 900,000 barrels of Russian oil per day through pipelines operated by PetroChina, flows that traders expect to remain largely unaffected. Yet the combined pullback from China and India-Russia's two largest buyers-is likely to strain Moscow's revenues and push global buyers toward alternative suppliers in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
In Moscow, reaction to the sanctions was defiant. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, blasted the measures and the cancellation of a planned Trump-Putin summit as "an act of war." "If any of the many commentators still harbored illusions-here you go," Medvedev wrote on Telegram. "The U.S. is our enemy, and their talkative 'peacemaker' has now fully taken the road to war with Russia."