Russia keeps top spot as China oil supplier in May, Angola pips Saudi again
BEIJING (Reuters) — For the third month in a row, Russia has maintained its spot as China's top crude oil supplier and Angola clung onto the second spot over Saudi Arabia, data from Chinese customs for May imports showed on Friday. The data release follows the decision from Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's two-biggest oil producers who are vying for market share in China, to extend a global oil supply cut agreement to bolster prices in an oversupplied market.
Russia supplied a record 5.74 MMt, or 1.35 MMbpd, to China last month, the General Administration of Customs said, rising from April's 1.15 MMbpd.
Russia was also the largest supplier for the first five months of the year with shipments averaging 1.16 MMbpd, followed by Angola at 1.11 MMbpd and Saudi Arabia at 1.1 MMbpd, customs reported.
Angolan shipments were 5.56 MMt last month, or 1.31 MMbpd, up 79.5% from a year ago, the data showed.
Saudi exports were 4.43 MMt, or 1.04 MMbpd, which was 8.6% higher compared to May last year, the data showed. That was down from April's 1.147 MMbpd.
"Declining premiums in Russian export grade ESPO (East Siberian Pacific Ocean) starting in around April may have attracted Chinese buying," said a Beijing-based trading executive.
China's total crude oil imports rebounded to the second highest on record in May, making China the world's top buyer for the month, but the pace is expected to ease from June through August after some local importers ran out of quotas and as refiners contemplate run cuts.
The data also showed China's May imports from Iran gained 10% from a year ago to 681,800 bpd while purchases from Iraq sunk 36% year-on-year to 513,800 bpd.
Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Meng Meng; Editing by Christian Schmollinger
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