Data from the General Administration of Customs showed that Saudi Arabia exported 5.36 million tons of crude oil to China in July, down from 8.88 million tons a month earlier and 6.99 million tons a year earlier. Last month, Saudi Arabia was China’s third-largest crude supplier, falling from the top spot for the first time in two years. The kingdom was participating on OPEC+ coordinated production cuts aimed at preventing oil prices from falling further.
Russia overtook the first spot, shipping 7.38 million tons of crude oil to China. Iraq was in the second spot with 5.79 million tons of crude. Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, failed to meet its production quota in May and June. However, it pledged to cut output by an additional 400,000 bpd in August and September.
The US shipped 3.7 million tons of crude to China, jumping by 139% from a year earlier. Chinese importers went into a buying spree of American oil after benchmark prices fell into negative territory in April. In July, Malaysia exported 387,792 tons of crude oil, declining by 71% from June.
