China’s privately owned Hengli Petrochemical has increased its Saudi Arabian crude imports for April and May as it prepares to bring a new refinery in northeastern China to full capacity, according to officials and ship tracking data. The purchases have kept Saudi crude exports to China elevated so far in the second quarter despite lower global demand during peak refinery maintenance season. Saudi oil exports to China averaged at 1.37 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first four months this year, up from 1.01 million bpd in the same period of 2018, Refinitiv trade flow data showed. Hengli is expected to lift 6 million to 8 million barrels of Saudi crude in May (194,000 bpd to […]