Networks of brokers and shipowners from Panama to Switzerland are becoming expert at circumventing international sanctions

China’s exports of refined oil products in July rose 7.1% from last year, according to customs data, maintaining the strong momentum from last month and recording the highest monthly total since June 2024.

China plans to shut down smaller, outdated refineries and pivot toward specialty chemicals to address severe overcapacity in its oil refining and petrochemicals sector.

A CBS News investigation reveals that China is still secretly buying Iranian oil and evading U.S. sanctions by having the oil transferred from ship to ship in the middle of the sea.

China's refiners lifted their processing rates in July, but strong crude oil imports and domestic output meant there was still a surplus of more than half a million barrels per day (bpd) available for storage.

China has nearly doubled imports of Russia’s discounted Urals crude as India scales back purchases under U.S. pressure.

India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.”

China’s exports of refined products, including diesel, gasoline, aviation fuel, and marine fuel, rose 7.1% year on year to 5.34 million tons in July, according to customs data, maintaining the strong momentum from last month and reaching the highest monthly total since June 2024.