Crude oil stockpiles in China rose by 29.09 million barrels last month from a month before and are likely to continue up, S&P Global Platts calculations have suggested. The inventory build was a result of rising imports combined with lower refinery activity, which led to the 416.7-percent surge in October from September. On an annual basis, crude oil supply in October rose 21.3 percent to 415.96 million barrels, S&P Global Platts also said, noting the monthly increase in total supply was a lot more modest than the jump in inventories, at 8.9 percent, mostly as a result of higher imports. China’s crude oil imports averaged 9.61 million barrels a day last month, customs data cited by Reuters revealed earlier this month, with the agency noting the amount is the highest on record. Once again, it was the independent refiners, or teapots, that drove the increase as they seek to […]