China’s March crude oil purchases from Russia rose 31 percent, while oil imports from Saudi Arabia fell 1.6 percent from a year earlier.
As refiners stocked up on cheaper cargoes despite cuts in refining rates and falling domestic fuel demand, China’s March crude oil imports rose 4.5 percent year on year to 9.68 million bpd.
Data from the General Administration of Customs showed shipments from Saudi Arabia were 7.21 million tonnes. That was average daily imports of 1.79 million bpd during the first two months of this year and down from 1.73 million bpd a year earlier.
Down from 1.71 million bpd recorded for the first two months, Russia supplied 7.02 million tonnes last month or 1.66 million bpd.
China’s imports remained close to zero from the US in March. They are expected to pick up later in 2020 after China started granting tariff waivers on US goods including crude oil from early March.
For the fifth month in a row, there were no shipments from Venezuela. Down 88.9 percent from a year earlier, data showed China’s imports from Iran at 255,779 tonnes.
