China's Jan Russian crude oil imports fall back from record

BEIJING: China's crude oil imports from Russia fell 30 percent in January from a record in December, customs data showed, as independent refineries rested after a rush to buy at the end of last year.

Imports from the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia, however, dropped mildly, by around 5 percent, to 996,900 barrels per day (bpd) in January versus December, data from the General Administration of Chinese Customs showed.

China's newly emerged crude importers, the independent refineries nicknamed "teapots" due to their relative smaller capacity and simple processing equipment, have been among the main buyers of Russian grades due to the smaller cargo sizes and geographic proximity of the supplies.

Thanks to the fresh demand from teapots, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia as China's top crude supplier in four months last year. The independent refiners started directly importing crude in the second half of 2015 for the first time after Beijing granted them quotas.

"Teapots are taking a break after heavy imports ahead of 2016," said a China-based crude trader with an oil major who supplies the teapots.

The customs data showed China's imports from Russia at about 793,000 bpd last month, still up 15 percent from January 2015, but off the record level of 1.13 million bpd in December.

Saudi barrels, with a higher content of sulphur and larger shipments under more rigid term contracts, were mainly absorbed by the country's leading state refiners.

China's imports from Iran fell 13 percent in January from a year ago to around 408,100 bpd, the data showed, as the absence of a key client of Iranian condensate - a light crude counted as crude in China - continued to limit the import level.

China's total crude oil imports in January were down 4.6 percent on year at about 6.3 million bpd. The total volumes last month plunged nearly 20 percent, however, from the record 7.81 million bpd imported in December.