China Customs: China oil imports drops sharply in February - RTRS

The latest China Customs data showed that the country’s crude oil imports fell sharply in February from the record high levels seen in January, as independent refineries reduced buying amid worries over the new tax rules, as cited by Reuters.

Key Points:

“China’s February crude oil imports of 32.26 million tonnes, or 8.41 million barrels per day, were 12 percent below January’s record high of 9.57 million bpd

For the first two months of the year, China brought in 72.9 million tonnes of crude oil, or 9.02 million bpd, compared with an average of 8.4 million barrels bpd throughout 2017.

China, meanwhile, maintained its high pace of natural gas imports. February’s 6.94 million tonnes was steady on a daily basis with January’s 7.7 million tonnes, which marked the second highest level on record on a monthly basis.”