Russia overtook Brazil again to return as the top crude supplier to China's independent refineries in May, shipping 1.76 million mt of crude during the month, S&P Global Platts monthly survey showed Tuesday.
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This was up 8.7% month on month from April imports of 1.62 million mt, and 20.9% higher from a year earlier. About 94.5% of the Russian imports were ESPO blend, with just one cargo of 96,000-mt of Sokol.
The rise could be attributed to the comparatively better demand for gasoil that led refineries to book more feedstocks with higher gasoil yields, according to analysts.
The ESPO imports were shared by 11 buyers, including two trading companies.
Meanwhile, Chinese crude imports from Malaysia surged 169.1% on month from April to 1.313 million mt.
All Malaysian crude imports were blended grades, with Hongrun Petrochemical and trading company, Taifeng Hairun, also joining the buyers' list besides ChemChina the traditional buyer of Malaysian Nemina blend.
On the other hand, imports from Brazil contracted by 38% from April to 1.313 million mt, also down 28.6% on year.
Oman crude imports shot up 207.1% on month and 135.5% on year to 1.21 million mt in May.
Total imports from Saudi Arabia rose 300% on month to around 1.08 million mt, compared with 270,000 mt in April. Hengli Petrochemical imported all the Saudi crude cargoes.
Nevertheless, driven by the strong buying momentum in the previous months, Brazilian grades still topped the list through January-May, totaling 9.28 million mt, up 26.2% on year.
This was higher than Russian imports of 9.1 million mt in the first five months of 2019, which were up 24.6% on year.
Platts' survey covers barrels imported by 38 independent refineries with quotas, and others without quotas, through ports mostly in Shandong province, as well as in Tianjin, Zhoushan and Dalian.
These refiners were awarded a combined 76.22 million mt to-date in 2019, accounting for 84.2% of the county's total allocation for independent refineries, including the first batch as well as supplemental volumes.
The barrels include those imported directly by refiners and trading companies, which will be used by the independent sector. ■