Despite the devastating coronavirus pandemic that locked down China for weeks, the country’s overall crude oil imports during the first half of the year rose 9.9 percent on the first half of 2019, customs data cited by Reuters has revealed. At 269 million tons in total, China’s first-half oil imports came in at an average of 10.95 million bpd, using the conversion rate of 7.33 barrels equaling 1 metric ton. This is a pretty respectable figure overall, especially given that most of the import growth was registered over the last three months, with imports of crude hitting yet another record in June, at 11.93 million bpd, according to data from energy analytics services provider OilX. The June figure was 25.4 percent—or 2.4 million bpd—higher than the average rate of June imports in 2019. Reuters later calculated China’s June oil imports at an even higher level of 12.9 million bpd. […]