Oil & Gas

While China's crude oil imports increased in the first two months of 2024, it's premature to gauge their impact on global oil demand and prices for the year. The direction of this impact, however, will reverberate throughout the market. Although Chinese imports rose in January and February compared to the same period last year, the comparison is against a low base from early 2023, and the trend compared to December 2023 shows lower imports. It remains to be seen how quickly Chinese imports will change direction and whether factors like international oil prices and import quotas will influence refiners' purchases more than domestic demand in China.

Despite a 5.1% increase in crude oil imports in January and February compared to the same months last year, the total imports of 10.74 million barrels per day were lower than December 2023's 11.39 million barrels per day. This decrease in imports was influenced by a variety of factors including weakening refinery demand, poor economic indicators, and higher inventory levels in China.