Rosneft’s Sechin Argues China, Not OPEC, Now Sets the Tone in Oil Markets

Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft, told a Russian-Chinese business forum in Vladivostok that China, rather than OPEC, has been the real force stabilising global oil markets this year. It is worth stressing at the outset that this is Sechin’s own assessment, delivered as a public remark at an industry event — not an independently verified market finding, and readers should treat the specific figures he cited accordingly.

What Sechin Said

“This year, China has effectively taken the lead from OPEC and, without being a member of any cartel, has managed to stabilise the global oil market by cutting its oil imports by 5.5 million barrels per day,” Sechin said, according to a Reuters report carried by BOE Report.

He went on to argue that China’s influence over energy markets would keep growing: “I believe that further growth in China’s reserves will strengthen China’s role in the energy market, against a backdrop of OPEC’s waning influence and a reduction in the number of its members.”

A Long-Standing OPEC Sceptic

Sechin, described in the same report as Russia’s most influential energy executive and a long-standing ally of President Vladimir Putin, has previously been critical of OPEC’s role in setting prices. His comments come against the backdrop of a genuine, verifiable development: the United Arab Emirates’ withdrawal from OPEC earlier in 2026, which has reduced the group’s membership and fed a broader narrative about its diminishing cohesion.

Why the Distinction Matters

Sechin’s specific claim — that China’s own import reduction of 5.5 million barrels per day has been the decisive stabilising factor in global oil markets this year — is a striking figure, but it is his own characterisation, offered without independent data cited alongside it in the reporting available. Rosneft, as one of the world’s largest oil producers, also has an evident commercial and geopolitical interest in a narrative that diminishes OPEC’s coordinating role and elevates Russia and China’s bilateral energy relationship instead.

None of that necessarily makes the claim wrong, but it is a reason for readers to treat it as one influential figure’s interpretation of a genuinely shifting market structure, rather than as an agreed or independently confirmed account of what has driven oil prices in 2026.

Why It Matters

Whatever the precise cause, the underlying trend — OPEC’s shrinking membership and China’s growing weight as both the world’s largest oil importer and an increasingly assertive market participant — is a real structural shift with implications for how oil prices are set and negotiated going forward, regardless of whose framing of it is accepted.