China’s August oil imports rise for second month amid eased fuel export control

BEIJING: China’s crude oil imports in August improved from Julyvolumes but were down 23.4% from a year earlier, according to customs data released on Tuesday.

The world’s biggest oil buyer imported 14.6% less oil in the first eight months than a year earlier after restricting refined oil product exports since March to safeguard domestic supplies, while domestic consumption fell because of higher prices.

August marked the second consecutive month of month-on-month growth in oil imports, however, as China eased its controls since July on refined oil products.

China imported 37.93 million metric tons of oil, or 8.93 million barrels per day, up 6.2% from July.

Onshore oil inventories fell by 550,000 barrels per day in August, slowing from a decline of 800,000 barrels per day in July, according to ship-tracking data provider Kpler.

Imports will gradually recover after September, but seaborne imports will remain below 8.5 million to 9 million bpd, while inventory declines will slow further, said Muyu Xu, an analyst at Kpler.

China’s refined oil product exports, including gasoline, diesel, kerosene and fuel oil, totalled 6.01 million tons in August, up 29% month on month and exceeding the 5.33 million tons recorded in August last year.

“The month-on-month increase in crude imports is in line with the surge in fuel exports in August and continued strong exports in September,“ said Emma Li, analyst at ship-tracking firm Vortexa. Vortexa expects at least 3 million tons of transportation fuel exports to destinations other than Hong Kong in September, up 50% from a year ago.

In the first eight months, China’s refined oil product exports totalled 34.24 million tons, down 9.6% from the same period last year.

Domestic transportation fuel consumption also slightly improved from July, with gasoline demand at 12.6 million tons and diesel demand at 15.48 million tons in August, according to Oilchem.

However, gasoline and diesel demand were still down 8% and 9%, respectively, from a year earlier, according to Oilchem data.

Chinese customs data also showed that China’s natural gas imports in August, including LNG and pipeline gas, stood at 10.33 million tons, down 12.9% from a year earlier.

In the first eight months, natural gas imports stood at 78.23 million tons, down 4.4% year on year.