2018-11-08
China's crude oil imports rose to their highest level ever on a daily basis in October, supported by a record demand from private refiners and strong margins, customs data showed on Thursday.
 
General Administration of Customs data showed that imports in October rose 32 percent from a year ago to 40.80 million tons, equivalent to 9.61 million barrels per day, compared to 9.05 million bpd in September.
 
The last record high for imports on a daily basis was 9.60 million bpd in April.
 
Imports rose 8.1 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year to 377.16 million tonnes, or 9.06 million barrels per day, heading towards the highest level of annual shipments.
 
The standard volumes came as a result of strong imports from private refineries in China.
 
The refineries bought 8.22 million tons of crude oil in October, the highest monthly level since Beijing began to set import quotas in 2015, said Emma Lee, an analyst at Reventive Oil Research and Forecasts.
 
The overall volume of October imports is in line with the forecast of 40.95 million tonnes for Reinventive.
 
Natural gas imports in October, through pipelines and liquefied natural gas, were 7.3 million tonnes, up 25.6 percent from the same month last year, but less than 7.62 million tonnes in September.