Page 11 - AsianOil Week 21 2022

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GAC data show Chinese spending on Russian

oil, gas, coal up 75% y/y in April

PERFORMANCE CHINESE spending on Russian crude oil, natu- in light of COVID-related shutdowns. Even
ral gas and coal jumped by more than 75% year so, China did buy 1.71mn tonnes of Rus-
on year to $6.42bn in April, according to data sian coking coal, up by more than 100%
released by the General Administration of Cus- y/y and marking the third straight month
toms (GAC). of increases, as steel mills stocked up in the
The GAC data did not provide a full break- expectation that government spending was
down of spending on Russian fuels. However, it set to rise.
did indicate that Chinese buyers had imported
6.55mn tonnes (1.594mn barrels per day (bpd)) China seen buying Russian oil
of Russian crude oil in April, 4% more than in The GAC data was published around the same
the same month of 2021. time that Bloomberg reported that Beijing and
The customs agency did not specify whether Moscow were eyeing a deal that would allow
the increase had been more pronounced along China to fill its strategic petroleum reserves with
specific transportation routes. (China imports Russian crude oil. Citing a source with knowl-
Russian oil by sea and by overland pipeline, and edge of the plan, the news agency said the two
sometimes by rail as well.) It did note, though, sides had begun discussions on a plan that would
that Russia had been China’s second-largest sup- allow the Chinese side to obtain Russian supplies China is believed
plier of crude in April, with only Saudi Arabia at a favourable price.
delivering larger volumes. The source, who spoke on condition of ano- to have room
The dataset also showed that Chinese imports nymity as the matter is private, said that these
of Russian LNG had shot up by 80% y/y in April, discussions were happening at an inter-govern- for additional
reaching 463,000 tonnes. This increase occurred mental level, without much direct input from
even as China’s overall LNG purchases declined the oil companies that will actually have to carry Russian barrels
as a result of lockdowns and restrictions on busi- out the deliveries. As of May 20, the parties had in its strategic
ness and industrial activity related to coronavi- not come to an agreement on the scope of any
rus (COVID-19) outbreaks. possible deal, and there was still no guarantee petroleum
The GAC data did not provide any infor- that they would come to terms in the end, he
mation on Russian gas deliveries to China via said. reserves.
overland pipeline. State-run Gazprom, Russia’s China is believed to have room for addi-
largest gas producer, sends large amounts of gas tional Russian barrels in its strategic petroleum
to the Chinese market via the Power of Siberia reserves, though it does not make exact figures
pipeline network, which has a design capacity of available to the public. Kpler, a commodities
38bn cubic metres per year. analytics consultancy, has estimated that Chi-
Meanwhile, Russian coal shipments to nese stocks currently amount to about 926.1mn
China amounted to 3.82mn tonnes in April, barrels, Bloomberg noted on May 20. This is
down by 14% y/y, according to GAC fig- up on the March figure of 869mn barrels but is
ures. The decline has been attributed to mild still lower than the record-high figure of about
spring weather, higher domestic coal produc- 985mn barrels that Kpler estimated for Septem-
tion and sluggish domestic energy demand ber 2020, it said.™

Week 21 27•May•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11