EconomyPolitics China has banned Russia’s shadow fleet from getting into main oil ports. Thursday, January 9, 2025 
China’s largest port operator, Shandong Port Group, has banned tankers underneath US sanctions from getting into ports in Shandong province, house to many unbiased refineries which might be the biggest oil importers from sanctioned international locations. The province imported about 1.74 million barrels of oil each day from Iran, Russia, and Venezuela final yr, accounting for about 17% of China’s imports. If the ban goes into impact, it would improve delivery prices for refiners in Shandong, the primary consumers of preferential sanctions crude from the three international locations. On the similar time, seaborne Russian crude exports have fallen to their lowest stage since August 2023, down 540,000 barrels per day since a peak in October. One of many causes for the decline in oil flows could also be elevated refining volumes at Russian refineries. Because of this, crude oil manufacturing within the Russian Federation fell beneath the OPEC+ stage in December.