Russia overtakes Saudi Arabia to become China's top crude supplier in April

China's crude oil imports from Russia rose 17.7% year on year to 7.2 million mt or 1.76 million b/d in April, resulting in Russia overtaking Saudi Arabia to become the country's top supplier in the month, latest data from China's General Administration of Customs showed.

Crude imports from Norway jumped to 1.58 million mt in April from zero a year earlier, the data showed.

The increase in inflow from the two countries gave Europe a 22.3% market share of China's imports over January-April at 37.44 million mt (2.27 million b/d), up from 17.9% a year earlier.

In contrast, China's imports from Saudi Arabia, fell 18% on year to 5.16 million mt or 1.26 million b/d in April.

That decline reduced the total supply from OPEC members by 9.7% on year to 87.52 million mt (5.3 million b/d) over January-April, despite an increase in cargo arrivals from Iraq, Kuwait and UAE of 11%-54% over the same period.

China's main crude suppliers

(Unit: '000 mt)

Note: * include other suppliers

Source: GAC