China’s crude oil imports last month rose by 8.81 percent month-on-month in June to average 10.54 million bpd, energy analytics provider OilX said in its latest monthly report, adding that the number was still lower than last year’s June average, by 2.45 million bpd. What’s perhaps more interesting is that, according to the OilX report, China’s crude oil in storage has been on the decline. Since April, the report said, oil in storage, as calculated through satellite data readings, has fallen from 436 million barrels to 414 million barrels. The period coincided with the latest sustained rally in oil prices. That Chinese oil imports were about to drop was clear a month ago. The country’s refiners ramped up their output a bit too fast as the economy began to recover after the pandemic hit and soon this ramp-up led to excess fuel supply and pushed their margins close to […]