China’s crude oil imports in April unexpectedly surged to a record despite refinery maintenance outages and tepid domestic fuel demand, customs data showed, as state-run refiners built up stocks of Iranian crude oil anticipating a sanctions clampdown. Imports last month were 43.73 million tonnes, equal to 10.64 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs. That compared with 9.26 million bpd in March and was up 11 percent from the April 2018 level, according to Reuters calculations. China, the world’s biggest oil importer, took in 164.9 million tonnes of crude during the first four months of 2019, or about 10.03 million bpd, up 8.9 percent on the same period a year earlier, […]