Oman emerges as one of top oil suppliers to China

As Oman’s crude oil export to China hit a new high last month, the sultanate has emerged as the fifth largest supplier of oil to the world’s second biggest economy in November. Oman came in as the second biggest oil supplier to China from the GCC region.

China’s top five suppliers – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Oman and Brazil – each delivered record high volumes of crude to China in November, propelling the crude import volume of the world’s biggest Asian oil consumer to a brand new historical high of 11.18mn barrels per day (bpd), according to the data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC), as reported by S&P Global Platts. S&P Global Platts is the leading provider of information, benchmark prices and analytics for the energy and commodities markets.

Oman’s oil exports to China touched to a new monthly high of 26.83mn barrels in November, representing almost 93 per cent of the sultanate’s total oil exports during last month, according to the statistics released by Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas.

Oman overtook Angola as the fifth top supplier to China in November. The shipment from China’s top crude supplier Saudi

Arabia surged 25.1 per cent yearon-year, crossing the 2mn bpd mark for the first time ever in November, S&P Global Platts said.

Meanwhile, the number of crude suppliers to China in November was the lowest in recent years at 31, a contrast when compared with 41 suppliers in April, the most diversified month in 2019. ‘This suggests that China was the battleground for the top crude suppliers to increase marginal sales in November,’ S&P Global Platts said.

The report added that the heavy inflow of Omani crude into China came largely on the back of competitive prices in November. The average of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange’s (DME) Oman futures daily settlement for October contract in August was US$59.68 per barrel, equivalent to a premium of 31 cents per barrel to the monthly average of Platts Dubai first-line crude oil assessments in the loading month.

According to S&P Global Platts, the October settlement price differential for Oman crude was sharply lower than September’s premium of US$2.76 per barrel and it marked the fifth consecutive month of decline, making a case for Chinese refineries to request incremental term cargoes to take full advantage of attractive October prices. Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas uses the average of the DME Oman settlement price to set the value of its term export cargoes.

The top five suppliers took an overall 64.7 per cent market share in China in November, climbing from 54.5 per cent a year ago and 59.6 per cent in October. China is currently the world’s biggest crude oil importer with January-November reaching 10.1mn bpd, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 10.1 per cent, GAC data showed.