China’s crude imports in December rose 29.9% year on year to an average 10.35 million b/d as independent refiners rushed to use their import quotas, lifting imports by Asia’s biggest oil consumer in 2018 to 9.28 million b/d, up 10.1%. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now December and November were the only two months when import volumes topped 10 million b/d mark, with December down 1.2% lower than the record high of 10.48 million b/d in November, General Administration of Customs data showed. Analysts said imports in 2019 were likely to rise but the rate would slow because of a high base in 2018. “For the year as a whole, China’s crude oil imports are set to rise over 2018 to accommodate the incoming new refineries while meeting the continuously rising oil demand, albeit at a lower rate than before,” Kang […]