China boosts crude oil imports from Russia during Jan-Oct – JLC

Low and “attractive” prices of Russian cargo prompted China to hike its crude imports from Russia from January to October 2023, market intelligence provider JLC reported.

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China imported about 88.47 million mt [648.49 million b/d] of crude from Russia in the first ten months of 2023, with daily imports at around 2.12 million b/d, an increase of 22.94% from the same period last year, JLC reported citing data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC).

Russian crude accounted for 18.70% of China’s total crude oil imports so far this year, with an average price of $76.36/bbl for shipment to China, JLC reported. Comparatively, China paid $85.05/bbl for cargoes from Saudi Arabia, $80.33/bbl for those from Iraq and $86.47/bbl for those from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the same time period, JLC further estimated.

Meanwhile, China also bolstered crude oil imports from Iraq (49.85 million mt), Malaysia (46.25 million mt), Brazil (31.08 million mt), and the US (12.07 million mt). The country also imported 12.07 million mt (290,000 b/d) of crude from the US in January to October 2023, an increase of 96.10%, GACC data showed.  

“In contrast, China’s crude imports from Saudi Arabia slipped by 0.51% to about 73.38 million mt (1.76 million b/d) in January-October,” JLC further noted. 

China imported a total of about 473.22 million mt (11.36 million b/d) of crude oil in January-October 2023, an increase of 14.45% from the corresponding period in 2022, JLC stated.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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