Taiwan became the world's largest importer of Russian oil

According to a published report, Taiwan imported US$1.3 billion worth of Russian oil in the first half of 2025, becoming its largest buyer in the world. The average monthly import volume increased almost sixfold compared to 2022.

In total, these purchases brought $1.7 billion to Russia's budget in the form of mineral extraction taxes. Analysts have calculated that this amount is sufficient to finance the production of 170,000 Gerber-type drones, which Russia is using to attack Ukraine.

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This situation creates a striking contrast, as Taiwan has officially joined the economic sanctions against Russia and provided Ukraine with $50 million in bilateral aid. The island paid Russia more than $11.2 billion for imports of Russian energy resources, an amount 220 times greater than the amount of aid provided to Ukraine.

The study revealed a clear divergence in the approaches of Taiwanese state-owned and private companies. State-owned enterprises such as Taipower and Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC) successfully abandoned Russian coal and oil as early as mid-2024.

However, the private sector took the opposite path. Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) increased its dependence on Russian oil from 9% to 90% in the first half of 2025. This made FPCC the world's largest buyer of Russian oil from the start of the full-scale invasion until the end of June 2025.

From February 24, 2022, to the end of June 2025, Taiwan imported 6.8 million tons of Russian oil worth US$4.9 billion, becoming the third-largest buyer in the world during this period. The key supplier was the Russian company Novatek, which is under US sanctions. It accounted for 72% of all Russian oil imports to Taiwan.

88% of Russian oil imports to Taiwan were carried out by ships owned or insured in countries belonging to the “price coalition.” However, oil prices exceeded the set limit of $45 per barrel, indicating that the sanctions policy was being ignored. One example is the unloading on September 16, 2025, of a tanker carrying $43.8 million worth of gas oil from the sanctioned Vadinar oil refinery.

Photo: CREA.

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