China Skirts Sanctions to Make Russia Its Top Oil Supplier in 2023

FILE - Reservoirs seen at Priobskoye oil field near Nefteyugansk, in western Siberia, Russia, on April 5, 2006.

Russia leapfrogged Saudi Arabia to become China's top crude oil supplier in 2023, data showed on Saturday, as the world's biggest crude importer defied Western sanctions to purchase vast quantities of discounted oil for its processing plants.