Crude-oil prices climbed in early Asian trade Monday as the market honed in on China’s strong crude imports last month, despite Saudi Arabia’s unexpected removal of its long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $45.54 a barrel at 0038 GMT, up $0.88 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.72 to $46.09 a barrel. China’s crude imports rose 7.6% on year last month, the third straight month that crude imports surpassed 30 million tons. On a daily basis, China shipped in 7.9 million barrels a day in April. In the first four months of the year, China imported 123.67 million tons of crude, equivalent to a 12% on-year rise. The strong flow of foreign crude is heavily supported by the rising number of local refineries, known as teapots, […]