TABNAK, Aug, 31: The surge in imports is driven by Chinese refiners seeking feedstock amid an economic slowdown and lower refining margins.
That will surpass the previous peak of 1.66m b/d set in October 2023, according to Kpler data that extends back to January 2013, and is almost 50% higher compared with 1.24m b/d last month.
“Chinese teapots see refining margins slightly improving, they now have stronger motivation to ramp up production and therefore need more feedstock,” Muyu Xu, an analyst with Kpler said.
The world’s biggest crude importer took 6.21 million tons from Malaysia in July, the equivalent to 1.47 million barrels a day, or almost triple the average daily production from the Southeast Asian nation over the course of 2023.
Malaysia have long been a hub for transferring crude and oil products from one tanker to another, meant to mask the country of origin.
Officially, China hasn’t purchased Iranian barrels since June 2022, according to government data. Unofficially, it is buying record amounts.
