China Retakes Top Oil-Buyer Spot From U.S. Amid Stockpiling
This article is for subscribers only.
China regained its status from the U.S. as the world’s biggest crude oil importer as shipments surged to fill the Asian country’s strategic petroleum reserves.
Overseas purchases by China rose to 29.49 million metric tons in June, a 27 percent increase from May when shipments were the least since February 2014, according to preliminary data released by the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs on Monday. That’s equivalent to about 7.2 million barrels a day, Bloomberg calculations show. U.S. crude imports last month averaged 7.08 million barrels a day, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.