OIL DATA: China Crude Imports From Sudan Resume in August - Fox Business

Sudan's oil exports originate in oil fields in South Sudan, which stopped crude production in January due to a dispute over transit fees with its northern neighbor. Sudan was China's seventh-largest supplier in 2011, exporting about 260,000 barrels a day there.

In August, China imported just 138,954 metric tons, or about 33,000 barrels a day, of crude from Sudan, down 85.8% on year, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed Friday.

Sudan and South Sudan are expected this weekend to endorse a border security deal, removing the last obstacle to the resumption of South Sudanese crude exports through Sudan.

Customs data issued Friday confirmed that China imported 18.4 million tons of crude in August, equivalent to 4.35 million barrels a day, down 12.6% from a year earlier. China's crude imports fell to a 22-month low in August, but the country still processed more crude during the month than in the previous month or in August 2011.

The disparity suggests that Chinese refiners chose to draw down crude inventories rather than maintain imports due to a slowing economy and weaker demand for oil products. China's commercial crude stockpiles, for example, fell 2.5% in August compared with July levels, the financial-news arm of the state-controlled Xinhua news agency reported Friday. China's oil product stockpiles declined 10.9% on month, it said.

China's August crude imports from Iran totaled 1.58 million tons, down 19.7% on year. In the January to August period, China's Iranian crude imports were down 21.8%, with Iran slipping to China's fourth-largest supplier after Saudi Arabia, Angola and Russia.

Earlier this year, the U.S. exempted China from penalties targeting financial institutions that do business with Iran's energy sector--despite Beijing's official opposition to U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

China's crude imports will likely be steady in the coming months, as demand for oil products is expected to stabilize in the third quarter, analysts say.

China didn't import a significant amount of gasoline in August. Diesel imports fell 67.2% to 81,996 tons, while diesel exports fell 32% to 145,321 tons, the data showed.

Kerosene imports fell 28% to 398,520 tons, while fuel oil imports were down 35.2% at 1.45 million tons.

DNB, Norway's largest bank, forecast that China's economic growth would slow to between 7% and 8% in the next decade from double-digit growth in the past decade. The slower economic growth will result in China's annual oil-demand growth falling to between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels a day from half a million barrels a day now, said oil market analyst Torbjorn Kjus.

China's data this year suggest gasoline demand is the only growth area in the oil industry. "Car sales are booming, and gasoline demand will be the star performer behind that growth," Mr. Kjus said.

--Jacob Pedersen in Singapore contributed to this article.

Write to Wayne Ma at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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