Chinese imports of Russian crude oil slumped to below 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, down by 13%, while imports from Malaysia, the biggest trans-shipment hub for Iran’s oil, nearly doubled from a year earlier.
China’s imports from Russia, its single biggest supplier of crude, fell by 12.9% on the year to 1.96 million bpd in April, according to Chinese customs data in tons converted into barrels per day by Reuters.
Russian sales in China in April also declined month over month, by 5.8% from 2.08 million bpd in March.
At the same time, Chinese customs data showed no crude imports from Iran, but a 96.9% surge in imports from Malaysia, whose waters are being used by the shadow fleets for ship-to-ship (STS) transfers to mask the origin of the crude from Iran.
Malaysia is thus the second-biggest supplier of crude oil to China in April, with 1.93 million bpd of Chinese crude imports from the country.
That was ahead of Saudi Arabia, Russia’s ally in the OPEC+ agreement. Chinese imports from the Kingdom fell by 12.8% year-over-year to 1.35 million bpd.
China accelerated the pace of its crude oil imports in March and April, but the increased purchases this spring aren’t necessarily a sign of recovering fuel demand in the world’s biggest crude importer.
It’s more likely that Chinese refiners are aggressively stockpiling cheaper crude amid uncertainties about sanctioned barrels going forward, analysts say.
“Uncertainty and lower oil prices prompt aggressive stockpiling by Chinese majors, while sanctioned crude imports hold near record highs,” Emma Li, senior market analyst at Vortexa, wrote in an analysis earlier this month.
The surge in China’s seaborne crude imports in April “was initiated by concerns over potential supply disruptions amid tightening US sanctions, prompting Chinese refiners to ramp up bookings and bolster onshore inventories,” Li noted.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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