Year: 2022

China added 2 million bpd to its crude oil inventories last month, Reuters’ Clyde Russell reported today, citing calculations based on official data. This means the world’s largest oil importer was buying more from abroad, although Russell noted that these purchases were most likely made months earlier, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Imports of crude in China averaged 10.47 million barrels daily, Russell noted, adding that local production was estimated at 4.14 million barrels. This meant a total supply of over 14 million bpd. Yet refinery run rates averaged…

With the EIA reporting an almost 5-million-barrel stock draw in gasoline over the week ending May 13, with inventories dropping to levels last seen in December and completely ignoring the seasonal build-up trend, gasoline has become the talk of the US market. This week brought a long-anticipated breakthrough as even the last states to see gasoline prices below $4 per gallon (Georgia, Kansas, and Oklahoma) have surpassed that threshold and every single US state now sees gasoline prices above the WTI contract. At the same time, the backwardation in the…

China is seeking to replenish its strategic crude stockpiles with cheap Russian oil, a sign Beijing is strengthening its energy ties with Moscow just as Europe works toward banning imports due to the war in Ukraine. Beijing is in discussions with Moscow to buy additional supplies, according to people with knowledge of the plan who asked not to be named as the matter is private. Crude would be used to fill China’s strategic petroleum reserves, and talks are being conducted at a government level with little direct involvement from oil…