Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi crude oil exports to China dropped in July 2020, taking it out of the top two supplier slots for the first time in two years, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing data from the General Administration of Customs.
This followed a historic output reduction to cope with tumbling fuel demand and prices on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The kingdom shipped 5.36 million tonnes to China last month, an equivalent of 1.26 million barrels per day (b/d), compared to 8.88 million tonnes in June and 6.99 million tonnes in July of 2019.
Russia, which is China’s largest crude supplier, shipped 7.38 million tonnes or 1.74 million b/d in July while Iraq took the second spot, shipping 5.79 million tonnes of crude oil to China.
Crude imports from the US rose 139% year-on-year (YoY) last month to 3.7 million b/d, while imports from Malaysia totalled 387,792 tonnes, down 71% from a month ago, data showed.
