China’s crude oil imports recovered slightly in July after falling for the previous two months, but were still among the lowest this year due to a drop-off in demand from the country’s smaller independent, or “teapot”, refineries. Crude shipments came in at 36.02 million tonnes last month, or 8.48 million barrels per day, up from 8.18 million bpd a year ago, and just up on June’s 8.36 million bpd, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. However, July imports were still the third lowest so far this year. The slight pick-up likely reflected some teapot plants returning from maintenance, while refining margins also improved thanks to higher domestic fuel prices, said James Gao of consultancy China Sublime Information Group. But overall, independent plants […]