BEIJING: China’s Iranian crude oil imports may rise to a record this year as state-owned oil firms lift more crude through their upstream investments while extending their current supply contracts, senior industry and trading sources said. Chinese firms were expected to lift between 3 million to 4 million barrels more Iranian oil each quarter in 2017 than last year, four sources with knowledge of the matter estimated, Reuters reported. That would be about 5% to 7% higher than the 620,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude the country imported during the first 11 months of 2016, according to customs data.
State refiner Sinopec Corp and state-run oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, the two biggest Chinese lifters of Iran’s oil, are set to roll over annual supply agreements with National Iranian Oil Company, with combined volumes of about 505,000 bpd, two sources with knowledge of the agreements said. Additionally, China National Petroleum Corp and Sinopec expect to lift more oil this year from two oilfields they operate under service contracts, the sources said.
