China’s August oil imports rise 6.5pc as teapots return to market

BEIJING: China’s crude oil imports rose 6.5 per cent in August from a month earlier to their highest since May, boosted by a rebound in demand from smaller, independent refiners, customs data showed on Saturday.

Arrivals last month were 38.38 million tonnes, or 9.04 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the General Administration of Customs.

This was up from 8.0 million bpd a year ago and 8.48 million in July and just slightly lower than the forecast of 9.12 million bpd from Thomson Reuters Oil Research.

For the first eight months of the year, crude purchases stood at 299 million tonnes, up 6.5 per cent, the data showed.

Independent refiners, known as teapots, wound back their crude buying earlier this year, shutting or suspending operations due to a combination of sinking diesel demand, higher crude prices and new tax rules.

However, a recent rise in fuel prices and improved margins have led to an in increase in crude processing, with many now returning from summer maintenance to gear up for rising winter demand.

Teapot buying in August rose to 6 million tonnes, or 1.4 million bpd, up 40 per cent from July, and September arrivals are expected to breach 7 million tonnes, data from Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodities Research showed.

Total gas imports in August were at 7.77 million tonnes, up 5.4 per cent from 7.38 million in July, according to the data. In the year to date, imports were 57.18 million tonnes, an increase of 34.8 per cent.