• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 7 minutes Energy Armageddon
  • 11 minutes Russia Says Europe Will Struggle To Replace Its Oil Products
  • 6 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 9 hours America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 2 days Cummins showcases 15L fuel-agnostic engine platform; hydrogen, diesel, biogas 16 March 2023
  • 6 days Gazprom and Rosneft super result
  • 15 hours *****5 STARS - "The Markets are Rigged" by The Corbett Report

Breaking News:

Oil’s Low Prices Draw Rash Of Hedging

Oil Nosedives After SVB Collapse

Oil Nosedives After SVB Collapse

The rapid collapse of two…

How OPEC Has Filled America’s Russian Oil Void

How OPEC Has Filled America’s Russian Oil Void

U.S. import volumes of Russian…

Irina Slav

Irina Slav

Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry.

More Info

Premium Content

Saudi Oil Exports To China See Spectacular Jump

Saudi crude oil exports to China rose 43 percent on the year in April to an average 1.53 million bpd versus 1.07 million bpd in April 2018 as independent refiners continued buying more.

At 6.3 million tons for the full month, Saudi oil made up the largest share of crude imports into China, displacing Russian oil, whose intake during the reporting period was 6.12 million tons or 1.49 million bpd. Still, Russian oil imports also marked an increase: in April 2018 these averaged 1.35 million bpd.

According to customs data cited by Reuters, Chinese refiners also increased their purchases of Iranian crude last month ahead of the expiry of sanction waivers. The average daily intake of Iranian oil was almost 790,000 bpd or 3.24 million tons for the whole period.

Increased imports of Saudi crude will continue this month, again thanks to higher demand from independent refiners. One of these, Hengli Petrochemical, will account for the largest increase as it ramps up operations at its brand new 400,000-bpd refinery in the Northeast to capacity.

As Reuters reported earlier, Hengli alone is expected to buy 6-8 million barrels of Saudi oil this month, which translates into 194,000-258,000 bpd. According to a company executive, after May, the average intake of Saudi crude by the independent refiner will decline to 4-6 million tons.

Meanwhile, Chinese refiners are shunning U.S. crude amid the latest escalation between Washington and Beijing. Chinese oil traders and refiners no longer want to sign long-term supply agreements with U.S. producers, the chief executive of Enterprise Products Partners said last week.

At the same time, Beijing has increased refined oil product export quotas to about 50 million tons since the start of the year. Average processing rates hit a record earlier this month, at 12.68 million bpd and, according to CNPC, this will be the average processing rate for 2019.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News