Imports will gradually recover after September, but seaborne imports will remain below 8.5 million to nine million bpd, while inventory declines will slow further, said Muyu Xu, an analyst at Kpler.
China’s refined oil product exports, including gasoline, diesel, kerosene and fuel oil, totalled 6.01 million tonnes in August, up 29 per cent month on month and exceeding the 5.33 million tonnes recorded in August last year.
“The month-on-month increase in crude imports is in line with the surge in fuel exports in August and continued strong exports in September,” said Emma Li, analyst at ship-tracking firm Vortexa.
Vortexa expects at least three million tonnes of transportation fuel exports to destinations other than Hong Kong in September, up 50 per cent from a year ago.
In the first eight months, China’s refined oil product exports totalled 34.24 million tonnes, down 9.6 per cent from the same period last year.