In January-February 2020, China's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose 26 percent from a year earlier, while purchases from Russia gained 11 percent.
From the previous year, China's total crude oil imports during January and February rose 5.2 percent to 10.47 million bpd. Months before the coronavirus started to drag on Chinese oil demand, orders for imports in January and February were made.
Higher than the 9.26 million bpd China brought in a year earlier, Refinitiv Oil Research said oil arrivals in March have been assessed at about 10 million bpd. Up from the 1.45 million bpd imported in the previous year, oil imports from Saudi Arabia were 1.79 million bpd.
Over the two months, Russia supplied 14.055 million tonnes or 1.71 million bpd. From the US, China's imports were zero. US imports fell last year because of the trade war between the US and China. Following China’s granting tariff waivers from early March on US goods including crude oil, US imports are likely to pick up later in 2020.
