Saudi Arabia was second largest supplier of oil to China in May

Chinese government data showed today, Tuesday, that crude imports from Saudi Arabia amounted to 7.32 million tons in May, equivalent to 1.72 million barrels per day, down 16% from 2.05 million barrels per day last month. Saudi Arabia was the largest source of crude oil to China in April

In early April, Saudi Arabia and other members of the OPEC + alliance announced sudden production cuts of 1.16 million barrels per day, starting in May. The kingdom cut 430,000 barrels per day of production in May, according to a Reuters survey published at the end of the same month.

According to “Reuters”, the data added that oil imports from Russia rose to an unprecedented level in May, with private refineries continuing to flock to Russia’s Espoo and Urals crudes at reduced prices amid the sanctions imposed on them.

Based on data from the General Administration of Customs, total oil imports from Russia reached 9.71 million metric tons in May, or 2.29 million barrels per day. Shipments increased by 15.3% from 1.98 million barrels per day in the same month last year.

This represents the highest level ever, and an increase of 32.4 percent from the total in April, which was 1.73 million barrels per day.

Much of the uptick in demand for Russian crude came from private refiners in China, including large firms such as Hengli Petrochemical. The company’s 400,000-bpd refinery, located in the northeastern city of Dalian, received its first cargo of 730,000 barrels of Urals crude in early May, in addition to a total of 3.71 million barrels of Espoo over the course of the month, according to ship tracking data

Smaller private refineries in the coastal province of Shandong also reported an improvement in their profit margins due to the purchase of sanctioned cargoes from Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

Chinese refineries use merchant middlemen in shipping and insurance operations for Russian crude to avoid violating Western sanctions

Customs data also showed that imports from Malaysia reached 1.34 million bpd in May, up 158.6 percent from the same period last year. Malaysia is often used as a middle point for sanctioned goods from Iran and Venezuela

Imports from the United States more than tripled year-on-year to 2.22 million tons despite the worsening geopolitical tension between the two countries, due to a short-term price advantage over that from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after OPEC + cuts production.