China’s crude oil imports remained weak, as expected, in July, edging up a mere 0.9% to 8.83 million b/d from the 47-month low in June amid destocking activity and slow domestic demand recovery, data from the General Administration of Customs showed Aug. 7. Not registered? Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now The increase in inflows in July was contributed by independent refineries which lifted their crude imports by 25.4% to 3.16 million b/d, from 2.52 million b/d in June, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data. Meanwhile, their state-owned peers are more likely to continue reducing spot purchases to consume their stocks. According to Kpler shipping data, China’s crude stocks stood at an 11-month high of 945 million barrels in May, accounting for 63% of the country’s crude storage capacity that Kpler monitors. With the slump in crude imports, stocks fell further to […]