Singapore — China's crude oil imports rose 15.7% year on year to record high of 10.48 million b/d in November, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed Saturday.
It was the first time China's monthly crude imports have totaled more than 10 million b/d. The previous record high was 9.64 million b/d in April 2018, GAC data showed.
On a barrels/day basis, the inflow represented a 13.9% increase from 9.19 million b/d in October.
GAC releases data in metric ton, which S&P Global Platts converts to barrels using a 7.33 conversion factor.
The country's crude imports in November totaled 42.87 million mt, up 10.3% from 38.88 million mt in October, the preliminary GAC data showed.
Robust imports in November lifted the country's crude oil imports over January-November to 418.11 million mt (9.18 million b/d), up 8.4% from the same period a year earlier.
Fuel oil imports stood at 1.5 million mt in November, rebounding 25.4% from a four-month low of 1.19 million mt in October.
China's oil product exports recovered to 4.5 million mt in November from an eight-month low in October after a new export quota allocation was released at end October. However, the volume was down 22.9% year on year.
Over January-November, China's product exports totaled 52.56 million mt, up 14.3% year on year, the data showed.
PRELIMINARY IMPORT, EXPORT DATA
| Nov-18 | Nov-17 | Change | Oct-18 | Change | |
| Crude imports | 42.87 | 37.04 | 15.7% | 38.88 | 10.3% |
| Crude exports | 0.26 | 0.85 | -69.2% | 0.14 | 85.8% |
| Net crude import | 42.61 | 36.19 | 17.7% | 38.74 | 10.0% |
| Oil product import | 3.10 | 2.54 | 22.0% | 2.55 | 21.6% |
| Oil product export | 4.47 | 5.79 | -22.9% | 4.00 | 11.7% |
| Net oil prod export | 1.37 | 3.25 | -58.0% | 1.45 | -5.7% |
| Fuel oil imports | 1.50 | 1.07 | 39.9% | 1.19 | 25.4% |
| Jan-Nov 18 | Jan-Nov 17 | Change | |
| Crude imports | 418.11 | 385.79 | 8.4% |
| Crude exports | 2.60 | 4.70 | -44.7% |
| Net crude import | 415.51 | 381.09 | 9.0% |
| Oil product import | 30.24 | 26.89 | 12.4% |
| Oil product export | 52.56 | 45.99 | 14.3% |
| Net oil prod export | 22.32 | 19.10 | 16.9% |
| Fuel oil imports | 14.88 | 12.14 | 22.5% |
Source: China's General Administration of Customs
-- Oceana Zhou, oceana.zhou@spglobal.com
-- Edited by Wendy Wells, newsdesk@spglobal.com