China crude oil imports increased in April to about 9.84 million bpd as demand for fuels began to rebound, Reuters reports , citing customs data. The country’s overall exports posted an improvement from March, at 3.5 percent, despite analyst expectations that they would slump by as much as 15.7 percent. This strongly suggests that a recovery is underway, and it may accelerate in the coming months. In oil, the average daily imports in China for the first four months of the year stood at 10.11 million bpd, which was a modest increase over the same period of 2019 as refiners ramped up run rates in response to the pickup in industrial activity after the end of lockdowns. Run rates were at a record last year, as China’s seemingly insatiable demand for crude drove refiners to invest in new processing facilities. The planned increase in refining capacity even gave rise […]