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May oil imports rise slowest in 4 months

(Bloomberg)
Updated: 2007-06-12 16:40

China's crude oil imports rose at the slowest pace in four months as some of the country's refineries closed for maintenance.

The imports rose 4.7 percent to 12.97 million metric tons (about 3.1 million barrels a day) last month, according to customs figures released in Beijing today. January-to-May imports rose 9.6 percent to 67.43 million tons. Exports in May were 520,000 tons, and fell 37 percent to 1.6 million tons in the five months.

Related readings:  Fuel oil import duties cut to 3%  Non-State firms licensed for oil import Crude imports reached record in Jan

"Major refineries along China's coast underwent maintenance in May and this has resulted in the country importing less crude compared with previous months," said Yao Daming, head of the oil products department at the Guangdong Oil & Gas Association.

The nation's bill for oil imports rose 3.4 percent to US$28.3 billion in the first five months and reached US$6.1 billion in May, the Customs General Administration of China said on its Web site today. Oil-product imports rose 4.5 percent to 14.2 million tons between January and May and reached 3.17 million tons last month.

Exports of oil products rose 22 percent in the first five months to 6.47 million tons and stood at 1.22 million tons in May.

China exported 28 percent less coal in the first five months, shipping 19.3 million tons. Exports last month reached 3.43 million tons, customs said. It gave no figures for coal imports.

China's independent and small refiners account for about 10 percent of total refining output in China while production from plants owned by China National Petroleum Corp. and China Petrochemical Corp., the country's two biggest oil companies, make up the rest.