Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. The exodus of Western companies from Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine has left a business vacuum that China is very interested in filling. Notably, China is interested in taking advantage of the oil, gas, and metals projects that have been left behind by various companies boycotting Russia. It seems that sanctions and boycotts on Russia may have the unintended consequence of strengthening China’s efforts to internationalize the yuan. Amid an exodus of Western European and U.S. companies from Russia, Chinese businesses are seeking to take their place, Bloomberg reported this week, citing unnamed sources in the know. It was only a matter of time, really. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does business. Chinese business, in addition to this, is quite pragmatic, unlike its Western counterparts […]