GreenergyDaily

Sep. 24, 2025

China has recorded a surge in Indonesian crude imports over the past two months, highlighting an unlikely route that suggests new workarounds could be emerging for Iran's oil exports — even in the face of US pressure.

A total of 2.7 million tons of crude from Indonesia, equivalent to about 630,000 barrels a day, arrived last month, according to customs data. That follows a jump in July, when flows tripled from the previous month.

Those levels would be high and unusual, as Southeast Asia's largest economy has been an oil importer for more than two decades. China's August purchases would comfortably exceed Indonesian output of about 580,000 barrels a day last year, most of it consumed domestically in a country where demand is close to 1.7 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Information Administration.

China is today the largest buyer of Iranian oil. The flows are a vital economic lifeline for Tehran and enable Beijing to benefit from cheap supplies to bolster its push for energy security — but the trade, which relies on a fleet of shadow vessels, has been repeatedly targeted by US sanctions.