Chinese apparent oil demand was higher than expected in April, with particularly firm net imports of crude and products, and record refinery runs. Newly licensed teakettle plants are driving imports. Just over 2.8mn b/d of crude flowed to ports in east China’s Shandong province, the heartland of the teakettle sector, equivalent to 35pc of the country’s imports. Apparent oil demand - domestic crude production plus net oil imports - was 12.2mn b/d last month (see table). Demand was 11.9mn b/d in January-April, up by 5.5pc from a year earlier. Russia was the largest single source of China’s crude imports, supplying 1.2mn b/d in April, followed by Saudi Arabia. Sinopec is increasing imports of Iranian crude.
展开▼
