Russia is finding fewer buyers for its crude oil as new US sanctions on Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC begin to ripple through global markets.
The measures – part of Washington’s latest effort to curb Moscow’s war financing – are now starting to deter key importers, with refiners in China and Turkey reportedly scaling back purchases and shifting to alternative suppliers.
Turkey turns to new suppliers
According to Reuters, refiners in Turkey have begun increasing their intake of non-Russian crude after new restrictions hit Moscow’s energy sector.
Sources told the agency that Turkish buyers, including SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR), recently bought at least four cargoes from countries such as Iraq and Kazakhstan for December delivery – a clear shift away from the near-total reliance on Russian grades seen in previous months.
This equals 77,000 to 129,000 barrels per day of non-Russian supply, according to Reuters’s calculations. Russian crude made up almost all of the STAR refinery’s intake in September and October – about 210,000 barrels per day (bpd), Kpler data showed.
Tupras diversifies amid EU sanctions
The country’s other major refiner, Tupras, is also boosting purchases of non-Russian grades similar in quality to Russia’s Urals, including Iraqi oil, according to industry sources.
The company is expected to phase out Russian crude at one of its two refineries to maintain fuel exports to Europe under the EU’s incoming sanctions, while continuing to process Russian oil at the other.
Tupras has also diversified its supply this year, taking its first-ever cargo from Brazil and awaiting a second from Angola in early November.
The report said that while Turkey had imported around 669,000 bpd of crude between January and October 2025, 317,000 bpd – or about 47% – came from Russia, a slight drop compared to 2024.
China’s refiners pull back
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Chinese refiners have also become more cautious, with Russian shipments facing declining demand.
The Russian crudes affected include the widely favored ESPO grade, which has seen prices plunge amid the slowdown. According to consultancy Rystad Energy, some 400,000 bpd – as much as 45% of China’s total oil imports from Russia – are affected by what the report described as a buyers’ strike.
State-owned giants such as Sinopec and PetroChina Co. are staying on the sidelines, having canceled some Russian cargoes in the wake of US sanctions on Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC last month, traders told Bloomberg.
Smaller private refiners – the so-called “teapots” – are also holding off, wary of attracting similar penalties to those faced by Shandong Yulong Petrochemical Co., which was recently blacklisted by the UK and EU.
Bloomberg cited Rystad analysts, who said a shortage of import quotas also constrains China’s teapots after recent tax changes – a factor likely to limit their ability to buy Russian crude for the rest of the year, even if they were willing to take the risk.
Global ripple effects
Both reports indicate that Moscow’s ability to redirect oil exports to non-Western markets is facing new pressure. While Russia continues to ship crude through alternative routes and intermediaries, demand in two of its most important markets, China and Turkey, appears to be weakening.
At the same time, Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries and the tightening web of Western sanctions are changing global oil flows – a shift that has benefited major US and European producers, which are seeing stronger demand for their own crude.