China's crude stocks slump despite slight rise in September import rate

Beijing, China witnessed a significant decline in crude oil imports in September, dropping 21.5% compared to the previous year according to customs data. The country, the world's largest oil consumer, imported 37.1 million metric tons of crude oil in September, translating to a daily import rate of 9.03 million barrels. This marked the highest monthly draw on China's onshore crude inventories in analysts' records.

The overall crude oil imports for the first three quarters of the year stood at 357.97 million tons, or 9.57 million barrels per day, down 15.3% from the same period last year. Seaborne crude oil imports in September were 7.6 million barrels per day, a 21.5% decrease from the previous year.

Iranian oil imports fell to 0.5 million barrels in September, while China's crude distillation capacity utilization rate rose to 66.36% in the month, an increase of 1.98 percentage points from the previous month. Demand was bolstered by a surge in fuel exports, and inventory levels for diesel and gasoline hit their lowest levels in over a decade.

Analysts attribute the steep drawdown in crude stocks to bottlenecks in ship-to-ship transfers around Hormuz, Middle East, causing delays in the arrival of September and late August cargoes. This led to refiners relying heavily on their stockpiles.

China's natural gas imports, including LNG and pipeline gas, also dropped by 1.7% in August to 10.86 million tons, and the first three quarters of the year saw a 3.9% decline in natural gas imports to 89.23 million tons. Refined oil exports from China totaled 7.16 million tons in September, down 3.7% year-on-year.