China’s crude oil imports from Russia increased on an annual basis by 8.6 percent in April as larger private refiners embarked on price-cutting oil purchases, according to customs data released on Saturday.
However, Russia’s imports in April were below the 2.26 million barrels per day recorded in March, while China’s total crude oil imports fell last month 16 percent from March.
The data showed that Saudi oil imports, mostly consumed by state refiners and private giants, totalled 8.46 million tons, or 2.06 million barrels per day, down slightly from 2.1 million barrels per day in March.
It worth mentioning that since the beginning of the year, China’s imports of Russian oil have hiked by 26.5 percent to 32.4 million tons, surpassing Saudi Arabia’s second-place imports and increasing 2.9 percent to 31.28 million tons.
