In July, Taiwan’s crude oil imports dropped as both of the country's refineries ran at lower rates.
Taiwan imported 688,000 bpd of crude in the month, down by 7.3% month-on-month and by 30.5% year-on-year, as state-owned refiner CPC underwent maintenance at its 200,000 bpd Taoyuan refinery starting early May to mid-July while private-sector Formosa Petrochemical cut run rates at its 540,000 bpd Mailiao complex to about 68% of nameplate capacity after a fire at its residual desulphurization (RDS) unit on July 15.
Taiwan made the biggest cuts in crude buying from Saudi Arabia by 179,000 bpd, slumping by 45% month-on-month, and 30.3% year-on-year. From Kuwait, Taiwan also slashed purchases of crude by 48% month-on-month and 40.7% year-on-year. to 113,000 bpd.
However, for the first time in two months, the country imported crude from Iraq by 64,000 bpd. Its crude imports from Angola rose by 60,000 bpd, after not buying in June but still nosedived by 39% compared to July 2019.
July crude imports from the UAE soared by 57% month-on-month to 89,000 bpd, the highest level since February.
