A general view of a crude oil importing port in Qingdao, Shandong province, in this November 9, 2008 file photo. A surge in oil buying by China’s newest crude importers has created delays of up to a month for vessels to offload cargoes at Qingdao port, imposing costly fees and complicating efforts to sell to the world’s hottest new buyers. China’s independent refiners, freed of government constraints after securing permission to import just last year, have gorged on plentiful low-cost crude in 2016. This has created delays for tankers that have quadrupled to between 20 to 30 days at Qingdao port in Shandong province, the key import hub for the plants, known as teapots, according to port agents and ship-tracking data. “Imports were blocked for some time by their increasing demand this month,” one trader said of the teapots. Buyers, the trader added, “are suffering from the block – […]