MOSCOW: Russia remained the top crude oil supplier to China in January, data showed, beginning 2018 on a strong note after the start-up of an expanded trans-Siberia pipeline and as Beijing released more crude import quotas to independent refiners. Angola and Iraq took the second and third positions for the month, leapfrogging Saudi Arabia, which was the second-largest supplier to China in 2017.
Russian supplies came in at 5.67 million tonnes, or 1.34 million barrels per day (bpd), up 23.4 percent from a year earlier, data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs showed on Saturday. The January number compared with 1.194 million bpd in December.
Last month, data showed Russia notched up its second year as China’s largest supplier in 2017, surpassing Saudi Arabia OPEC’s top exporter by some 150,000 barrels each day.
The strong Russian exports to the world’s largest crude oil buyer came as a second East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, as well as expanded domestic connections in China, started commercial operation in January. In a reshuffle of the pack, Angola ranked second with 4.68 million tonnes, or 1.1 million bpd, of crude in January, down 5.4 percent from a year earlier. China imported 4.45 million tonnes, or 1.05 million bpd, of crude from Iraq, up 28 percent from a year ago.
Saudi Arabia supplied 4.29 million tonnes, or 1.01 million bpd, to China in January. That was down 15 percent from the same year-ago rate and compared with 1.11 million bpd in December
