China's crude oil imports to exceed 400 million tonnes this year

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As continuing low oil prices and the decline in domestic production caused the increase in purchases abroad, said an executive at a Chinese state oil giant on Tuesday.

It is expected that in 2018, the import of crude oil in China will grow by double digits, told in an interview the Vice-President of Sinopec Group Zhang Haichao on Tuesday at the industry conference in Beijing.

According to the estimates of Zhang, the demand for imported oil in China this year would increase by about 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), which is likely to make China the world's largest importer of crude oil on an annual basis for the first time ever.

According to customs data, for the first six months of 2017, China imported 212 million tonnes of crude, or 8.55 million bpd, up nearly 14 percent from the same period in 2016.

Crude oil imports in China have risen this year amid concerns about tightening crude supplies to Asia since the OPEC and other producers increased production cuts until March 2018.

Zhang’s expectation of strong Chinese demand for imports holding through the remainder of the year is, despite the plans of state oil companies close to 10% of the refining capacity in China in the third quarter due to an excess of fuel products.

However, last month in Beijing was released the second batch of import quotas on crude oil that made it this year higher than last year, which helped to support the demand of the country.