China’s crude oil imports up

China’s crude oil imports in July rose 13.9 percent from a year earlier to 41.04 million tons, or 9.71 million barrels a day (bpd), government data showed Thursday.

The volume also edged up 0.3 percent on daily basis from June’s shipments of 9.67 million bpd, the General Administration of Customs said.

Crude oil imports by the world’s largest oil importer in the first seven months of the year grew 9.5 percent from the same period of 2018 to 9.88 million bpd.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, over 60 percent of China’s oil comes from imports.

Although state-run giants Sinopec, China National Petroleum Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Corporation dominate crude imports, the country gave private refineries the green light to directly import crude in 2015 as the government tried to attract private capital into the largely monopolized sector. (KUNA)