China's crude imports increased 8.2% from the previous year in October, with refineries operating at their highest rates of utilisation this year.

According to the General Administration of Customs, data released on Friday, the world's biggest crude importer imported 48.36 million tons of oil last month, an increase of 2.3%, or 11.4 million barrels a day, from September.

According to Vortexa Analytics, China's seaborne crude oil imports increased to 10.4 millions barrels per day, an increase of 6% over September and 9% on a year-over-year basis, as refiners increased throughput to improve margins.

Emma Li, an analyst at Vortexa, said that state-run refiners increased their runs in the second part of the year in order to gain market share in China from private refiners. They also wanted to maximize fuel export quota usage amid improved margins. This led to a noticeable slowdown in crude oil stockpiles on the mainland.

Kpler data revealed a significant rise in China's crude imports from West Africa, Brazil and other countries. This was driven by favorable arbitrage economics. The Russian oil imports in October increased by a month due to the higher Urals volumes, which reached 283,000 barrels a day. This was their highest level since 2023.

MuyuXu, a senior analyst with Kpler, said that "as Sinopec's refineries were undergoing maintenance in October, deliveries for long-term contracts relating to September-loading cargoes decreased."

The total imports of crude oil for the first 10 month of the year rose by 3.1%, to 471 millions metric tons.

Imports of both pipeline natural gas and LNG, which includes both liquefied gas and natural gas in liquid form (LNG), dropped 7.2% from a previous year to 9.78 millions metric tons. The total imports for the first ten months were 102.6 million tons, a 6.2% decrease from the same period in the previous year.

(source: Reuters)