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Sources say Sinopec has resumed its Russian oil purchases after a short break amid sanctions risk

Sources say Sinopec has resumed its Russian oil purchases after a short break amid sanctions risk

Sinopec, Asia’s largest refiner, has resumed its purchases of Russian crude oil following a short pause in last month to assess the risks posed by sanctions imposed on Russian entities by the United States, according to trade sources on Wednesday.

Sources said that Unipec, a trading division of China's state run Sinopec, had purchased Russian Far East ESPO blend oil for May loading, after being absent from the March and April loading ESPO cargoes.

Unipec's decision to resume purchases was not immediately apparent.

Sinopec didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.

Sources claim that the number of cargoes purchased by Unipec is significantly lower than it was before the January announcement.

On January 10, the former Biden administration imposed harsh sanctions against Russian oil producers Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz, as well as insurers and over 100 vessels in order to reduce Moscow's revenue.

Last month, it was reported that sanctions had caused a drop in Russian oil exports from China and India while Chinese state oil companies Sinopec Zhenhua Oil and Zhenhua Oil stopped purchasing Russian oil.

Traders said that ESPO blend oil cargoes loaded in May were trading at a premium of around $2 per barrel over the ICE Brent benchmark, on a shipped basis to China. Reporting by Siyi Liu and Florence Tan in Singapore, Editing by Andrew Heavens and Kirby Donovan

(source: Reuters)