Even as independent Chinese refiners have reduced the intake of Iranian crude amid low refining margins, China has continued to import near-record levels of Iranian oil this year as a new demand center emerged in the northeast of the country, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting trading sources and tanker-tracking firms.
The port city of Dalian, which has 6% of China's crude processing capacity, has seen only sporadic shipments of oil from Iran in the past few years, oil flow tracking firms Vortexa and Kpler have told Reuters.
But Dalian has recently seen a surge in cargoes discharging Iranian crude. Per Vortexa data, 23 cargoes with a total of 45 million barrels of crude oil were shipped into and discharged at Dalian and the nearby Changxing island between October of last year and June this year.
Kpler has estimated that China likely imported 34 million barrels into Dalian in the period.
China has continued to buy cheaper crude from Iran even after the U.S. re-imposed sanctions on Iranian oil in 2018. The world's top crude oil importer is Iran's key export market, and it looks like the soaring imports into Dalian have compensated for lower purchases by independent refiners in the Shandong province.
Earlier this year, China's independent refiners delayed purchases of crude from Iran for February as the Islamic Republic is now demanding higher prices and upfront payments before loading the cargoes, trading sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
As the year progressed, deteriorating refining margins have reduced the overall oil intake of the independent refiners, the so-called teapots.
Many cargoes going into China from Iran continue to be labeled as carrying crude from other countries, such as Malaysia or Oman.
Chinese customs data has shown that imports of crude from Malaysia have soared. According to Standard Chartered, the latest China customs import data showed crude oil imports from Malaysia clocked in at 1.456 million barrels per day (bpd), a lot more than the country produces.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Comments
This is despite claims that Chinese crude imports have slowed down recently or even declined.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert