Update On Chinese Crude Oil Imports -- RIgzone -- June 29, 2016

The writer argues that jump in Chinese crude oil imports may be due to rapid filling of their strategic petroleum reserve and increasing refinery operations for export, rather than an overall increase in demand due to domestic growth in GDP.

Some data points from the article:

• China: world's #2 consumer of crude oil
• imports rose 16.5% in the first five months of this year compared to same period last year
• three reasons cited
• domestic crude oil production falling; dropped over 7% in May
• produced about 4 million bopd in the January - May period; a drop of about 170,000 bopd from 2015
• therefore: 170,000 bopd of the additional 1 million bopd import increase due to decrease in local production
• filling strategic storages at a fairly rapid pace (locking in great prices while they can)
• estimate: about 1 million bopd went into either commercial or strategic storage
• third factor: rising exports of refined products
• diesel exports surged over 300%
• gasoline exports surged almost 65%