China’s Oct crude imports 3rd highest pace this year

China’s crude oil imports in October rose 13.8 per cent from a year earlier to about 5.58 million barrels per day, the third-highest pace this year, customs data showed, as refiners ramped up output to replenish stocks and as new facilities came onstream.

China, the world’s largest crude importer after the United States, shipped in 23.68 million tonnes of crude oil last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Saturday.

The barrels per day imports were 14 per cent higher than in September.

For the first 10 months, China bought 7.1 per cent more than a year earlier, at 224.07 million tonnes, or about 5.36 million bpd, the data showed.

Two new crude units with a combined capacity of 240,000 bpd started last month -- one in northeast China’s Daqing, run by PetroChina and a second in eastern Shandong province.

That appeared to have offset production cuts at several Sinopec plants, which were forced to halt or reduce runs due to environmental problems.