China’s crude oil imports are estimated to have dropped in July by 3 percent from June, but they were still much higher than the import volumes in July 2019, data from energy analytics services provider OilX showed. Following record-high imports in June, China is expected to have imported on average 11.55 million bpd in July, down by 373,000 compared to June, OilX Research data showed. Despite the monthly drop in Chinese crude oil imports, arrivals in July surged by 21.5 percent, or by 2.05 million bpd, compared to July 2019. “The swift increase on imports in recent months is an optimistic sign for the global economy, however the pace has been so quick that it has challenged the logistical capabilities of Chinese ports. In fact, we attribute the abnormally high difference between our estimate and the Customs data to possible discrepancies between the classification of imports and vessels waiting […]