China’s crude oil imports fell to some 9.77 million barrels daily last month, down 2 percent on May and the lowest monthly level since the start of the year, Reuters reported , citing customs data. Over the first half of the year, China imported 260.66 million tons of crude, down 3 percent on the first half of 2020. The first-half figure was boosted by increased imports by independent refiners, commonly called teapots. Since the first quarter, however, Beijing has begun cracking down on the teapots, as production of fuels both at independent refiners and state-owned majors was rising faster than demand, undermining refining margins and creating a glut. Beijing intervened , asking state-owned oil majors to stop trading their crude oil import quotas with private refiners. The government also reduced the second batch of crude oil import quotas for private refiners by as much as 35 percent last month, […]