What China tells us about who’s sticking with Opec cuts and who might be cheating
Launceston — China’s imports of crude oil offer a picture of which exporters are doing the heavy lifting of reducing supplies, and which countries are benefiting the most from the efforts of oil cartel Opec and its allies to rebalance the market. While looking at customs data from the world’s biggest crude importer is not a definitive study of global oil market dynamics, it is important as exporters are well aware that China has been leading demand-growth in recent years, a trend likely to continue. China imported 281.1-million tonnes of crude in the first eight months of this year, equivalent to 8.44-million barrels a day, according to customs data. This is up 12.3% on the same period in 2016, or about 950,000 barrels a day. This makes China the major contributor to global demand-growth so far this year, given that the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects world oil consumption to rise 1.6-million barrels a day in 2017 from 2016. The breakdown of the Chinese import numbers show...
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