China is importing less crude oil
The decrease in demand from Asia could impact the oil industry as a whole.

China's crude oil imports tended to be much lower in September than they were in the past four months, while the rest of Asia also slowed imports significantly this month as demand remains under pressure, IHS Markit said on Friday. Crude oil unloaded in Chinese ports in the past two weeks has been below 8 million barrels per day (bpd), on a par with what China imported in March and April, said Fotios Katsoulas, Liquid Bulk Principal Analyst, Maritime & Trade , at IHS Markit, in an analysis. China's crude oil imports remained strong in the third quarter, with high congestion in many major crude oil ports. "But activity so far in September suggests that the world's largest crude oil importer absorbed much less than it did a month ago," said Katsoulas. Earlier this year, China imported record amounts of crude oil in May and June as the oil-hungry nation tried to take advantage of low oil prices in April. Record-breaking crude oil imports supported oil prices during late spring and summer, when the recovery in oil demand in the rest of the world had just begun and then wavered amid fears of a second wave of COVID-19. Still, China's feast of low oil prices may now be over. China is expected to import what may be the last of the bargain shipments the refineries bought in April in August. Refiners in China are now "struggling to absorb these barrels and find buyers for locally made refined products. This results in significantly fewer new business for crude oil, with shipments to China continuing to decline," noted IHS Markit's Katsoulas. The rest of Asia also imports much less crude oil than in previous months, with South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan being particularly weak compared to earlier this year, according to data from IHS Markit Commodities at Sea. "Overall, oil imports to Asia have seen extensive losses and may be the lowest this year, with volume falling between eight and 10% this month since August," said Katsoulas, noting the very slow recovery in demand In India, crude oil imports from Asia and oil prices were also negatively affected.





