China's 2020 Crude Oil Imports Hit Record

Muyu Xu, Chen Aizhu
Thursday, January 14, 2021

China's total crude oil imports surged 7.3% in 2020 despite the coronavirus shock early in the year, with record arrivals in the second and third quarter amid plunging oil prices and expanding refineries, data showed on Thursday.

For 2020, the world's top oil buyer brought in a record 542.37 million tonnes of crude oil, or 10.85 million barrels per day (bpd).

December shipments were 38.47 million tonnes, equivalent to 9.06 million bpd, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Thursday.

That was down about 15% from 10.71 million bpd in December last year and off 11.04 million bpd in November.

The strong flows followed feverish buying when crude prices plummeted to the lowest in decades and robust domestic demand as the economy quickly recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.

Expansions at state-owned refineries and the launch of new facilities by privately owned Zhejiang Petrochemical Corp further boosted China's appetite for the fossil fuel.

Beijing has raised the first batch of crude oil import quotas for non-state companies by 18% to 122.59 million tonnes in 2021 from the first-round in 2020, reflecting the increased capacity.

Customs data also showed imports of natural gas, including fuel supplied as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and via pipeline, reached a record 11.23 million tonnes in December.

Full year imports rose 5.3% to 101.66 million tonnes, as a harsh winter and a stunning manufacturing recovery boosted energy demand in spite of multi-year high gas prices.

Shiptracking data showed earlier China's December LNG imports soared to a record of over 9 million tonnes, overtaking Japan for the second month in a row as the world's No.1 buyer.


(tonne=7.3 barrels for crude oil conversion)

(Reporting by Muyu Xu in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Categories: Oil Tanker

Related Stories

Hanwha Ocean Marks Entry into Deepwater Drilling Market with First Drillship

ORE Catapult and Japan’s FLOWRA to Jointly Advance Floating Wind

Second Hai Long Substation Heads to Project Site Offshore Taiwan

China Unveils Plans for New Offshore Wind Farms to Tackle Carbon Emissions

CNOOC Boosts Dongfang Gas Fields Output with New Platform Coming Online

Yinson Production Scoops $1B Investment to Upscale FPSO Business

BP Targets 44% Oil, 89% Gas Increase from India’s Mumbai High Field

CNOOC’s South China Sea Oil Field Goes On Stream

Saipem’s Castorone Vessel on Its Way to Türkiye’s Largest Gas Field

Shell Shuts Down Oil Processing Unit in Singapore Due to Suspected Leak

Current News

Chuditch Gas Field Up for Summer Drilling Ops as Sunda Reshapes Ownership Structure

EnQuest Bags Two Production Sharing Contracts off Indonesia

Hanwha Drilling’s Tidal Action Drillship En Route to Petrobras’ Roncador Field

China's ENN, Zhenhua Oil Ink LNG Supply Deals with ADNOC

MODEC Wins ExxonMobil Guyana’s Hammerhead FPSO Contract

India Stretches Bids Deadline for 13 Offshore Deep-Sea Mineral Blocks

Indonesia Awards Oil and Gas Blocks to Boost Reserves

Sapura Energy Nets $22.6M in Offshore Support Vessel Contracts

CNOOC Puts Into Production New Oil Field in South China Sea

Sunda Energy Starts Environmental Consultation for Chuditch-2 Well Drilling Plans

Magazine

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com