China imported 12.38 million barrels of crude oil daily last month, which was a 4.88% increase on the year and the highest import rate since August 2023, Reuters reported, citing government data.
The November import figure also represented a 5.24% increase on October oil imports, the data showed, driving the overall oil imports for the period between January and November up by 3.2% on the year to 521.87 million tons, an amount equal to a daily rate of 11.45 million barrels.
In November, Russian oil shipments declined by 157,000 barrels daily to an average 1.19 million barrels daily, while Saudi imports rose by 345,000 barrels daily to 1.59 million barrels daily, making the kingdom China’s top supplier for the month. Shipments from Iran also rose substantially, adding 233,000 barrels daily from October, to a total daily average of 1.35 million barrels.
“Domestic demand has experienced a seasonal decline, but sanctions on crude supplies from Iran and Russia have led to significant price reductions for feedstock, boosting refining margins and prompting more refineries to apply for advance import quotas ahead of the first batch in 2026,” Vortexa’s head of China analysis, Emma Li, told Reuters.
The oil import data follows predictions that demand for crude in the world’s top importer is likely to remain weak until at least the middle of next year. While stronger economic growth than previously expected and booming demand for petrochemicals will lift China’s oil demand by 1.1% this year, consumption of transportation fuels has peaked, the market research unit of state energy major CNPC, the Economics and Technology Research Institute, said earlier this year.
In the meantime, independent refiners in Shangdong are stepping up their oil-buying and processing more of it, after Beijing issued a fresh batch of crude import quotas. The buying is reducing oil in storage, which analysts believe could ease a perceived supply overhang before the year’s end.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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