Crude oil imports in the month of July by China is estimated to have dropped by around 3 percent when compared to the month of June, according to data provided by energy analytics services provider OilX.
During the month, China has imported on average 11.55 million barrel of oil per day (bpd).
The crude oil import in July by China is still higher if we compare it to the same period in 2019.
However, it is noteworthy that arrivals in July surged by 21.5 percent, or by 2.05 million bpd, compared to July 2019.
OilX oil analysts Juan Carlos Rodriguez and Valantis Markogiannakis said in a note, “The swift increase on imports in recent months is an optimistic sign for the global economy, however the pace has been so quick that it has challenged the logistical capabilities of Chinese ports. In fact, we attribute the abnormally high difference between our estimate and the Customs data to possible discrepancies between the classification of imports and vessels waiting to discharge.”
OilX further revealed that China’s imports from the United States jumped by more than 500,000 bpd.
Last month, Russia’s Gazprom Neft shipped its first cargo of oil produced in the Arctic to China through the Northern Sea Route (NSR).
According to Gazprom Neft, the country’s third biggest oil company by output and the oil arm of state gas giant Gazprom, it took 47 days to deliver a full cargo of 144,000 tonnes of oil from the Yamal peninsula developments to the Chinese port of Yantai on the Bohai Sea.