OIL MARKETS

摘要

China's crude imports in February fell by 1.16M b/d from the record high in January to 8.45M b/d, according to China Customs data. This represented annual growth of just 126K b/d, compared to an average 'rate of 800K b/d in 2017. Imports came under pressure in February from i) a crackdown on tax evasion that curbed buying by independent refiners, ii) a slowdown in economic activity amid the Lunar New Year holidays and iii) majors holding off buying in the hope of a drop in prices. Part of the government effort to combat tax evasion includes the introduction of a new online platform for invoicing oil products trade. This was due to take effect on 1st March and reduced demand from the smaller refiners without import licences, but the launch of the platform has since been pushed back to May.