China is ramping up purchases of Russian oil as India steps back: Chinese imports of Russian oil surged +50% over the last 2 months, to 2.09 million barrels per day in the first 18 days of February. By comparison, the country imported 1.72 million in January and 1.39 million in December. The surge has more than offset a sharp decline from India, where imports have fallen -40% from the June peak, to ~1.2 million barrels per day. As a result, combined imports from China and India are up to ~3.3 million barrels per day, the highest since July 2023. Furthermore, shipments of Urals crude to China rose to 600,000 barrels per day in December, the highest in data going back to 2018. China's economic relationship with Russia has never been stronger.