KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s crude oil exports to China in the first three months of this year rose 14.7 percent from the same period of 2016 to 305,000 barrels per day (bpd), government data showed.
In March alone, Kuwait exported 380,000 bpd to the world’s No.1 crude oil buyer, down 7.1 percent on the year, according to the General Administration of Customs.
China’s overall imports of crude oil in March hit a record high of 9.21 million bpd, up 19.5 percent from a year earlier. Russia returned to the country’s top supplier in the reporting month, with its shipments growing 9.3 percent to 1.11 million bpd, followed by Angola with 1.10 million bpd, up 43.4 percent.
Saudi Arabia became third, with imports from the country falling 4.6 percent to 1.08 million bpd. Iraq ranked fourth and Iran fifth, respectively.
Despite its continuous domestic crude oil consumption growth, China’s crude oil output has been on a downward trajectory since 2016, the state-owned China Daily reported last week. The output declined 6.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, 5.0 percentage points higher than last year’s drop.
