China’s July US crude imports surge, Saudi supply falls

China's crude imports from the US surged to over 800,000 b/d in July, helping compensate for a fall in arrivals from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and Brazil.

China took delivery of a record 863,000 b/d of US crude last month, six times the 143,000 b/d that arrived in June and more than double imports of 351,000 b/d in July last year, data from the general administration of customs (GAC) show.

Imports from Saudi Arabia fell last month to 1.26mn b/d, down by 41.7pc from June, sending the country's share of China's import market lower to 10.4pc from 16.7pc over the period. Saudi Arabia was only the third-biggest supplier to China in July, behind Russia and Iraq, the first time it had slipped out of the first two spots since July 2018.

State-controlled Saudi Aramco cut June-loading allocations for some Asia-Pacific term customers by 10-30pc from their requested volumes, while raising official formula prices.

Russia was the top supplier to China last month with 1.73mn b/d, although this was down by 10.8pc from June. Chinese firms are significantly reducing imports of seaborne ESPO Blend in July-September as refining margins deteriorate .

Imports from Iraq were 1.36mn b/d, making it the second-biggest supplier despite a 6.8pc drop from June. Imports from Brazil fell by 10.7pc over the period to 1.08mn b/d.

The strength in China's US imports comes amid continuing trade talks . China has resumed crude imports from the US since May, in a belated ramp-up of shipments after Beijing and Washington signed an interim trade deal in January. Vessel loadings indicate US imports may stay strong in the next few months.

China's total crude imports in July were 12.08mn b/d, down slightly from June's record high.

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