Page 6 - AsianOil Week 38 2022

AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil

China ramps up Russian oil purchases in

August, but Saudi Arabia stays on top

PIPELINES & CHINA’S oil and coal imports from Russia bpd) to the country, representing a 5% growth
TRANSPORT soared in August, data published last week by y/y. On a year-to-date basis, the kingdom is also
Beijing showed. However, Saudi Arabia man- China’s top supplier, having delivered 58.31mn
Overall Chinese oil aged to retain its position as the country’s top tonnes in the first eight months of the year, down
imports fell 9.4% in supplier. 0.3% y/y.
August, as a result According to data from the Chinese General Despite these gains by both Russia and Saudi
of outages at state- Administration of Customs (GAC), Russian oil Arabia, overall Chinese oil imports fell 9.4%
owned refineries and imports into China, including those sent via in August, as a result of outages at state-owned
decreased throughput the East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline refineries and decreased throughput at inde-
at independent plants and seaborne shipments, amounted to 8.342mn pendent plants because of weak margins.
due to weak margins. tonnes (1.97mn barrels per day) in August, Meanwhile, China’s purchases from Angola
marking a 28% increase year on year and just shy and Brazil fell by 34% and 47% y/y respectively in
of May’s record of almost 2mn bpd. August. No oil was taken from Venezuela or Iran
China has been ramping up oil purchases during the month, as buyers continue to be wary
from Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine, of violating sanctions. But in recent years, there
taking advantage of the significant discount is evidence of illicit trade between China and the
that Russian blends now trade at, having been two countries, which would not be disclosed in
shunned by some Western buyers, with sanc- official data.
tions causing further difficulties. According to The Chinese customs data showed that
Bloomberg, Russia supplied more oil to inde- imports from Malaysia, commonly used as a
pendent Chinese suppliers, outcompeting rival transfer point for deliveries coming from Iran,
cargoes from West Africa and Brazil. Venezuela and Russia, nearly doubled y/y to
Saudi Arabia nevertheless came out on top 749,000 bpd. China did not take any oil from the
in August, delivering 8.475mn tonnes (1.99mn US last month. ™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 26•September•2022