Russian Arctic oil exports to China beat records
Twelve tankers sailed across the Northern Sea Route with more than ten million barrels of oil to Chinese buyers in the first eight months of 2026.
According to Reuters, China is currently the only recipient of Russian Arctic oil shipped along the Northern Sea Route. However, other countries are likely to follow suit, with Arctic shipments to India reportedly under consideration.
This year’s volumes significantly exceed those of last year. In all of 2025, a total of 13 million barrels were exported on the remote Arctic route, Reuters reports on Telegram, citing data and analytics from LSEG.
Russian Arctic oil shipments to China have surged following the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Hormuz Strait.
Shipments on the Northern Sea Route are fraught with major risks. The waters are far from existing infrastructure, such as rescue and preparedness services, and rapid changes in weather and sea ice conditions can put shippers in significant distress.
In early August this year, a convoy of more than 15 vessels, most of them oil tankers, unexpectedly sailed north of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago in what was the northernmost shipment of a tanker convoy ever recorded.
For several days, tankers, cargo ships, and container vessels sailed north of the archipelago at 81.5°N due to difficult sea ice conditions in the Vilkitsky Strait. As soon as the ice conditions improved, the ships again chose the route through the strait that separates the Kara Sea from the Laptev Sea.
Several of the oil tankers that were part of the convoy did not have sufficient ice-class protection.
"This is extremely risky," a Norwegian expert said.
