Thanks to demand from the start-up of major refineries, Chinese crude oil imports in June have increased since May, and has increased by 15.2 percent from June last year, customs data compiled by Reuters showed on Friday. China’s crude oil imports in June averaged 9.63 million bpd, an increase of 1.7 percent from an average of 9.47 million bpd in imports in May, and a 15.2-percent increase from 8.36 million bpd in June last year, according to Reuters calculations in barrels from data in tons provided by the Chinese General Administration of Customs. Despite weaker refining margins and a glut of refined oil products, demand for crude in China increased last month thanks to Hengli Petrochemical, which had a new refinery start up earlier this year and ramped up to full 400,000-bpd capacity at the end of May. Another 400,000-bpd refinery, of Zhejiang Petrochemical, began trial runs, further pushing […]