Interpretation of China Crude Oil Import Data, Nov 2018

In November 2018, China’s crude oil import volume was 42.872 million tons, up 5.08% month-on-month. From January to November of 2018, the import volume reached 4,181.11 million tons, up 8.40% from the same period of 2017. In the first eleven months of 2018, China’s crude oil import dependence degree was 70.63%. Some China’s companies import crude oil directly from other countries, and some import crude oil from bonded warehouses at China’s ports.

In November, a total of 65 companies imported crude oil directly from other countries, and the imported crude oil involved 36 countries and 95 crude oil grades.

China’s crude oil import volume from the Middle East covered 49.14% of China’s total import volume in November. The import volume from Russia dropped by 637.6kt in November from that in October, but Russia was still the biggest crude oil supplier for China. China’s crude oil import volume from Saudi Arabia was 6,507.5kt in November, up 1,735.5kt from October. In addition, the crude oil import volume from Brazil and Venezuela went up a lot in November.