Trade sources claim that Yanchang, a Chinese refiner, buys crude oil from the UAE and Kazakhstan instead of Russia.

Several sources confirmed that Yanchang Petroleum, a Chinese refiner, has purchased 3 million barrels from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kazakhstan, for arrival in January, after having suspended its Russian oil purchases due to concerns over Western sanctions.

They said that the state-owned company purchased 2 million barrels Abu Dhabi Murban crude oil from Swiss trader Mercuria, and 1 million barrels CPC Blend from Vitol. Prices were not immediately available.

Yanchang published a tender for non-Russian crude oil to be delivered between December and February.

The refiner is located in Shaanxi, a landlocked province in northern China, and it has the support of the provincial government. It can process 348, 000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Sinopec and other Chinese energy giants, such as Sinopec, suspended their Russian crude oil purchases in October following Western sanctions against top Russian oil producers.

Yanchang, one of China's largest refiners, has a quota for imports of 3.6 millions metric tons or 26 million barrels.

The refiner was a regular purchaser of Russian oil. It usually received one shipment per week, which is typically ESPO blend, or Sokol, a Far East export grade. Reporting by Siyi Liu and Florence Tan in Singapore, Editing by Subhranshu Sahu

(source: Reuters)