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> They will find that the rest of the civilized world can say "No" to China, just as it has to Russia.

Umm...except for US+EU, no one is saying No to Russian oil and other exports. Of-course, you are free to consider that the "rest of the civilized world" in your mind.

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Russia is getting $52/barrel for oil. Other producers are getting $80-85/barrel.

Comparing oil prices like this doesn't exactly work - oil is less of a commodity than we like to think. $80-85 per barrel is the price for WTI or Brent, which is a grade of crude oil called "light sweet crude." As oil goes, this is the highest purity grade. Middle Eastern oil, in general, is not anywhere near that pure, and can go for as little as $20-30/barrel. I assume Russian oil is also not quite as light and sweet as $80/barrel oil would be.

The whole point is that $52/barrel isn't (only) geopolitics, it's also about oil purity.

This chart looks like it's mostly geopolitics. The Brent-Ural spread opened pretty significantly in Jan.

[0]https://www.neste.com/investors/market-data/crude-oil-prices

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