That dollar total for mainland China’s spending on crude petroleum oil accelerated by 92.8% compared to $261.2 billion five years earlier for 2020.
Year over year, China’s imports of crude oil slipped by -2.1% 2024 versus $514.4 billion in 2023.
In contrast, a much lesser $54.2 billion worth of crude oil was exported from China to the rest of the world down by -11.6% from 2023.
Crude oil is China’s second-most valuable imported good after integrated electronic circuits and microassemblies, but well ahead of imported iron ores and concentrates, gold, petroleum gas, then copper ores and concentrates.
One hundred and five countries supplied crude petroleum oil to mainland China in 2024. That number includes relatively minor oil suppliers to China including France, Iran, Spain and Sweden.
The top 5 exporters (Russia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates) furnished over half (52.4%) of China’s total crude oil imports purchased in 2024.
Over one-third (34.8%) of Chinese imported crude oil originated from Middle Eastern nations for example $57.5 billion provided by leading supplier Saudi Arabia and $11.5 billion worth of unprocessed petroleum from Kuwait.
OPEC Crude Oil Supplied to China in US Dollars
China’s overall $503.4 billion worth of imported crude oil purchases was impacted by price-setting action initiated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). However, that economic dependency continues to erode due to an expanding international cohort of crude oil suppliers.
OPEC countries accounted for 35.3% of mainland China’s total spending on crude oil imported in 2024, compared to 40.1% in 2020.
Year over year, the difference is also pronounced. OPEC was responsible for a 37.9% share for the prior year in 2023. This means that China’s buying from OPEC members decreased by 2.4% to the 35.5% metric recorded during 2024.
For both OPEC and non-OPEC sales, crude oil is priced in American dollars on world markets. Economists explain that the US dollar is the only fiat currency with a large enough financial infrastructure to support the global trade of crude oil.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Chinese yuan depreciated by -1.7% from 2023 to 2024. The weaker Chinese yuan makes China’s imported crude oil paid for in stronger US dollars relatively more expensive when converted starting from Chinese yuans.
China’s Top Providers of Imported Crude Oil
Below are the top 15 countries that supplied 88.6% of the crude petroleum oil imported into mainland China during 2024.
- Russia: US$94.8 billion (18.8% of China’s crude oil imports)
- Malaysia: $51.6 billion (10.3%)
- Saudi Arabia: $49.2 billion (9.8%)
- Iraq: $38.2 billion (7.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: $29.9 billion (5.9%)
- Oman: $27.8 billion (5.5%)
- Australia: $25.4 billion (5%)
- United States: $23.1 billion (4.6%)
- Brazil: $22.9 billion (4.6%)
- Indonesia: $20.1 billion (4%)
- Qatar: $19 billion (3.8%)
- Angola: $17.5 billion (3.5%)
- Kuwait: $10.8 billion (2.2%)
- Turkmenistan: $9.6 billion (1.9%)
- Mongolia: $8.7 billion (1.7%)
The 89.1% of Chinese imported crude oil during 2024 for the 15 main crude petroleum providers reflects an uptick from the 88.6% recorded by China’s 15 major crude oil suppliers one year earlier in 2023.
Fastest-Growing Suppliers of China’s Imported Crude Oil
The value of Chinese purchases of crude oil from China’s top 15 suppliers amounted to a subtotal $455.9 billion in 2024, decelerating by an average -2.5% from the $467.6 billion worth of imported crude petroleum bought from the top 15 providers during 2023.
As listed below, the top 15 list did see some gainers.
- Malaysia: Up 13.6% since 2023
- Australia: Up 11.1%
- Iraq: Up 7.9%
- United States of America: Up 3.4%
- Russia: Up 0.8%
These 5 among the top 15 crude oil exporters increased their international sales of crude oil to mainland China compared to 2023.
Double-digit decliners among China’s top 15 sources of crude oil were suppliers in the Middle East: Kuwait (down -34.5% from 2023), United Arab Emirates (down -11.9%) and Saudi Arabia (down -10.6%).
Widening the scope to include the 50 leading crude oil suppliers to mainland China, there were 20 gainers from 2023 to 2024. Those increases ranged from impressive increases for crude petroleum suppliers in Cameroon (up 211%), Norway (up 204.9%), Venezuela (up 199.5%) and Greece (up 107.4%) to more modest advances for providers in the United States of America (up 3.4%) and Russia (up 0.8%).
The severest percentage declines for the subset of 50 suppliers arose from China’s crude oil sources in Kazakhstan (down -50.5% since 2023), Libya (down -48.1%), Mexico (down -34.5%), Kuwait (also down -34.5%) and the United Kingdom (down -32.8%).
See also Crude Oil Exports by Country, Crude Oil Imports by Country, China’s Top 10 Exports and China’s Top 10 Imports and Saudi Arabia’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on March 18, 2025
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on March 18, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on March 18, 2025
Wikipedia, List of crude oil products. Accessed on March 18, 2025
X-rates.com, Exchange Rates: Chinese Yuan Renminbi to US Dollar (monthly average 2024). Accessed on March 18, 2025