EU sanctions against Russia include two Chinese refineries and the trader Chinaoil

The EU has added Chinaoil Hong Kong (a trading arm for PetroChina) and two Chinese refineries with a combined daily capacity of 600,000.00 barrels to its list of sanctions against Russia, according to the EU Official Journal published on Thursday.

Liaoyang Petrochemical is one of the two refineries, and Shandong Yulong Petrochemical is another.

Although the Chinese listings were not the first in the EU, they were the most important from an economic perspective. The EU, along with the Group of Seven nations is trying to drain Russia of its means to finance its war in Ukraine. This includes squeezing essential oil and gas revenue.

The EU stated that the three companies are significant buyers of Russian crude and provide a "substantial revenue source" for Moscow.

Shandong Yulong, China's latest refinery, has a capacity to produce 400,000 barrels per day. It is also one of China's biggest single Russian oil clients.

After Britain's sanctions against the refinery, several of Yulong’s crude suppliers had already halted sales of Middle Eastern oil and Canadian crude to the plant.

The EU journal reported that the refiner purchased millions of barrels from Russia's ESPO crude and Urals crude grades.

Liaoyang is a petrochemical and refiner company with a 200,000-bpd capacity in the northeastern part of China.

The EU has also sanctioned China’s Tianjin Xishanfusheng International Trading Co., which they claim played a major role in Russia’s efforts to circumvent the sanctions. Reporting by Florence Tan from Singapore and Julia Payne from Brussels. (Editing by Susan Fenton, Mark Potter and Mark Potter.)

(source: Reuters)