China’s October Russian crude imports stay strong; Kuwait, UAE barrels set records

BEIJING: China’s crude oil imports remained strong in October, with shipments from Russia at their highest level of the year, and barrels from the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait hitting records, Chinese customs data showed on Thursday.

The following are key points from the October data.

• Imports from top supplier Russia fell 7.3% to 9.11 million metric tons year-on-year, or 2.15 million barrels per day. However, the volumes reached their highest monthly level this year.

• Imports from Malaysia, the largest transshipment hub for sanctioned Iranian oil, fell 36.1% to 4.8 million tons year-on-year, or 1.13 million bpd.

• Imports from Indonesia stood at 1.54 million tons in October, or 0.36 million bpd. China imported around 0.1 million tons of crude from Indonesia in 2024.

• Imports from Saudi Arabia, China’s second-largest supplier, rose 21.4% to 7.02 million tons year-on-year, or 1.65 million bpd, but eased 1.5% from the previous month.

• Imports from the UAE surged 86% in October to 3.82 million tons year-on-year, reaching a 19-month high.

• Imports from Kuwait jumped 142.4% to 2.36 million tons year-on-year, or 0.56 million bpd in October, the highest since October 2023.

• Imports from Brazil rose 21.8% to 3.57 million tons year-on-year, or 1.06 million bpd.

• Imports from the United States remained at zero for a fifth consecutive month.

• There were no reported imports from Iran or Venezuela.

• Overall, imports rose 8.2% to 48.36 million tons year-on-year.