China’s crude oil imports last month remained elevated, with purchases from some countries hitting all-time highs, according to customs data cited by Reuters.
Imports from the UAE, for instance, rose from 2.05 tons a year ago to 3.82 million tons last month, while purchases from Kuwait went up from 970,000 tons to 2.36 million tons, the data showed.
Imports of crude from Russia, however, declined on the year, from 9.83 million tons to 9.11 million tons in October. One ton of crude oil is roughly equal to 7.33 barrels. The country remained China’s single biggest supplier of crude, though, followed by Saudi Arabia, which exported 7.02 million tons to China in October. Iraq came third, with total flows at 5.05 million tons.
Oil imports from Brazil also increased, from 2.93 million tons to 3.57 million tons, as did flows from Indonesia, which went from zero a year ago to 1.54 million tons. Imports from Malaysia, meanwhile, dropped from 7.5 million tons to 4.8 million tons last month.
On the other hand, the official data showed zero oil imports from Iran, Venezuela, and the United States. While the zeroes relating to Iran and Venezuela should be taken with a pinch of salt, the stretch of no U.S. oil imports has now extended to five months.
In earlier news, Reuters reported that China had increased the rate of crude oil stockpiling last month as well, as the difference between refinery demand and imports inched up to some 690,000 barrels daily.
Refinery throughput in October averaged 14.94 million barrels daily, the official data showed, while imports ran at a rate of 11.39 million barrels daily. The refinery throughput figure was a 6.4% increase on the year, suggesting healthy demand for oil, but it was also a decline on September’s 15.26 million bpd average. The September figure was a two-year high.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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