Iran may take the place of Angola as the second largest crude supplier for China in 2011, market sources predicted.
China's crude imports from Iran were 16.22-mil mt in total in the first seven months of the year, up by 16.3% from the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs. The amount accounted for 11.14% of China’s total crude imports during the period, versus a share of 12% for the imports from Angola.
In July alone, Iran supplied 2.75-mil mt of crude to China, a surge of 35% from a year ago, the GAC data showed. The imports from Angola in the same period were only 1.9-mil mt.
China’s crude imports from the other Middle East countries, like Oman, Iraq and UAE also rose significantly in January-July.
China imported 73.58-mil mt of crude from the Middle East from January to July, an increase of 19.18% year on year. The volume accounted for 50.53% of the total imports.
Chinese oil refiners increased imports of Middle East crude from this February, as the feedstock is of higher price-performance ratio compared with that sourced from the West Africa.
