Sharp Rise In China-Indonesia Oil Imports Points To Iranian Workaround

China has logged a sharp increase in crude imports from Indonesia in recent months, suggesting Beijing has found “new workarounds” to access Iranian oil despite U.S. sanctions, Bloomberg reports.

Chinese customs data show 2.7 million tons of crude from Indonesia - roughly 630,000 barrels a day – arrived in August. That followed a tripling of flows in July compared with the previous month. The volumes are unusually high given Indonesia has been a net oil importer for more than two decades. Last year the country pumped about 580,000 barrels a day, most of it consumed domestically, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Local demand runs near 1.7 million barrels a day.

China has a new conduit for its purchases of Iranian oil.

“Indonesia” is the new “Malaysia.”

Last month, China bought 2.7 million tons (~630,000 b/d) of crude oil branded as “Indonesian” — well above the Asian nation own production.

Link: https://t.co/pAv740Ry7X #OOTT pic.twitter.com/5sw7NAUAch

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) September 24, 2025

China is the world’s largest buyer of Iranian crude, which remains a vital revenue source for Tehran and offers Beijing discounted supplies. Officially, however, Beijing has reported no imports from Iran since mid-2022. Instead, Chinese customs data show purchases from Malaysia regularly exceed that country’s output. The waters off Malaysia’s eastern coast have become a common staging ground for ship-to-ship transfers, with cargoes rebranded before being shipped on to Chinese ports.

Yet over the past two months, China’s reported purchases from Malaysia dropped by more than 30%, while inflows from Indonesia surged. “This is just part of a continuing evolution of the operators’ tactics, hiding what they’re doing,” said Charlie Brown, a senior adviser at United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S.-based advocacy group. “They’re still doing ship-to-ship transfers in the same area off Malaysia; the basic trade pattern remains the same.”

Ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg point to several tankers – including the Aquaris, the Yuhan, the Pola and the Pix – signaling calls at Kabil, a port on Indonesia’s Batam Island near Singapore, before discharging in China. Kabil isn’t linked to any crude-export facilities and lies close to Johor waters in Malaysia, a hub for maritime transfers.

Chinese customs records list buyers registered in Hebei, Liaoning, Shandong and Jiangsu as importers of the Indonesian crude. Inquiries sent to Indonesia’s energy ministry, state-oil company PT Pertamina and Kabil port went unanswered. Local statistics show 1.3 million tons of crude petroleum shipped abroad through July, far short of the volumes reflected in China’s August data. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Among the vessels, the Aquaris signaled Kabil in May, then switched its destination to Johor waters. There, it took on Iranian cargoes from the Sorion, a tanker sanctioned by the U.S. and U.K., before discharging in June at Qingdao’s Haiye terminal, which itself was sanctioned by the State Department in August. The Aquaris has since completed another such voyage and is currently en route to Kabil again.