High oil prices and China’s crackdown on the use of oil import quotas could result in the lowest crude oil import growth at the world’s top oil importer since 2001, analysts tell Reuters . Analysts—including Rystad Energy, Energy Aspects, and Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS)—estimate that the recent clampdown on the import and tax practices of independent refiners, as well as the significantly higher oil prices this year, could result in flat or slightly rising crude oil imports in China in 2021. Oil imports could grow by up to 2 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, which would be the lowest growth rate in two decades and much lower than the 9.7-percent average import growth rate since 2015, according to Reuters. In a bid to reduce refining overcapacity, China stepped up earlier this year pressure on independent refiners to uproot illegal tax practices and check if outdated facilities have […]