That dollar total for mainland China’s spending on crude petroleum oil grew by 14.5% compared to $251.8 billion five years earlier for 2021.
Year over year, China’s imports of crude oil slowed by -9% in 2025 versus $324.6 billion in 2024.
In contrast, a much lesser $2.25 billion worth of crude oil was exported from China to the rest of the world–up by -90.3% from 2024.
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, copper ores and concentrates, then petroleum gases.
One hundred and five countries supplied crude petroleum oil to mainland China in 2025. That number includes relatively minor oil suppliers to China including Slovakia, Malta, Albania, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.
The top 5 exporters (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Malaysia and Brazil) furnished over three-fifths (61.2%) of China’s total crude oil imports purchased in 2025.
Over two-fifths (44.4%) of Chinese imported crude oil originated from Middle Eastern nations. For example, $43.4 billion provided by leading supplier Saudi Arabia and $33.3 billion worth of unprocessed petroleum from Iraq.
OPEC Crude Oil Supplied to China in US Dollars
China’s overall $295.4 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 47.5% of mainland China’s total spending on crude oil imported in 2025, compared to 54% in 2021.
Year over year, the difference is reversed albeit modestly. OPEC was responsible for a 46.8% share for the prior year in 2024. This means that China’s buying from OPEC members increased by 0.7% to the 47.5% metric recorded during 2025.
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 2025, the Chinese yuan appreciated by 0.5% against the US dollar from 2024 to 2025. The modestly stronger Chinese yuan makes China’s imported crude oil paid for in weaker US dollars relatively less expensive when converted starting from Chinese yuans.
China’s Top Providers of Imported Crude Oil
Below are the top 15 countries that supplied 93.8% of the crude petroleum oil imported into mainland China during 2025.
- Russia: US$49 billion (16.6% of China’s crude oil imports)
- Saudi Arabia: $43.4 billion (14.7%)
- Iraq: $33.3 billion (11.3%)
- Malaysia: $31 billion (10.5%)
- Brazil: $24 billion (8.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $20.8 billion (7%)
- Oman: $19.5 billion (6.6%)
- Angola: $15.6 billion (5.3%)
- Kuwait: $10.1 billion (3.4%)
- Canada: $7.4 billion (2.5%)
- Indonesia: $6.7 billion (2.3%)
- Congo: $4.7 billion (1.6%)
- Qatar: $4 billion (1.3%)
- Ecuador: $3.8 billion (1.3%)
- Colombia: $3.7 billion (1.3%)
The 93.8% of Chinese imported crude oil during 2025 for the 15 main crude petroleum providers reflects slight upturn from the 93.4% recorded by China’s 15 major crude oil suppliers one year earlier in 2024.
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 $277.2 billion in 2025, decelerating by an average -8.6% from the $303.3 billion worth of imported crude petroleum bought from the top 15 providers during 2024.
As listed below, the top 15 list did see some significant gains.
- Indonesia: Up 7,220% since 2024
- Canada: Up 55.9%
- Ecuador: Up 28.3%
- Congo: Up 20.2%
- Brazil: Up 9.9%
- Kuwait: Up 4.7%
These six among the top 15 crude oil exporters increased their sales of crude oil to mainland China compared to 2024.
The severest decliners among China’s top 15 sources of crude oil were suppliers based: Qatar (down -35.2% from 2024), Oman (down -22.3%), Russia (down -21.3%), Malaysia (down -19%) and Colombia (down -13.5%).
Widening the scope to include the 50 leading crude oil suppliers to mainland China, there were 16 gainers from 2024 to 2025. Those increases ranged from impressive increases for crude petroleum suppliers in Indonesia (up 7,220%), Argentina (up 960.6%), Guyana (up 218.8%) and Mozambique (up 75.1%) to more modest advances for providers in Australia (up 3%), Kuwait (up 4.7%) and Brazil (up 9.9%).
The severest percentage declines for the subset of 50 suppliers arose from China’s crude oil sources based in Papua New Guinea (down -87.1% since 2024), United States of America (down -78%), Cameroon (down -73.7%), Venezuela (down -72.6%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (down -57.8%).
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 May 19, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 19, 2026
Wikipedia, List of crude oil products. Accessed on May 19, 2026
X-rates.com, Exchange Rates: Chinese Yuan Renminbi to US Dollar (monthly average 2025). Accessed on May 19, 2026