BEIJING, Oct 13 (Reuters): China’s crude oil imports increased 3.9% year-on-year in September, driven by strong refinery activity as facilities operated at their highest utilisation rates of 2025, official data showed. However, on a month-on-month basis, imports fell 4.5% due to tighter quotas and reduced seaborne shipments.
According to the General Administration of Customs, China — the world’s largest crude importer — brought in 47.25 million metric tons of crude oil in September, equivalent to 11.5 million barrels per day.
Chinese refineries ramped up production amid robust domestic supply, with gasoline and diesel output remaining elevated, though analysts said supply continued to outpace demand. Data from consulting firm Oilchem indicated that atmospheric and vacuum distillation units operated at 73.45% of capacity, up 1.28 percentage points from August and 3.22 points from a year earlier.
State-owned refiners ran at 81.05% of capacity, a 3.55-point annual increase, while independent refiners boosted utilisation by 3.02 points to 62.17%. A total of 14 refineries underwent maintenance in September, two fewer than in August, with a combined capacity of 70.4 million tons per year, down 12.3 million tons from the previous month.
Despite the strong domestic refining activity, seaborne crude imports fell to their lowest since January, as shipments from Iran also hit a year-to-date low, according to data from Kpler.
“The month-on-month decline mainly reflected tight import quotas for independent refiners, limiting purchases from Russia and Iran,” said Muyu Xu, Senior Crude Oil Analyst at Kpler. She added that narrower arbitrage margins in June also reduced inflows from Brazil and West Africa, which were loaded in July and August.
During the first nine months of 2025, China’s total crude oil imports rose 2.6% year-on-year to 423 million tons, reflecting continued strategic stockpiling.
Meanwhile, natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, fell 7.8% year-on-year in September to 11.05 million tons. LNG imports for the January–September period dropped 6.2% to 92.86 million tons, data showed.
(1 metric ton of crude oil = 7.3 barrels)
By Sam Li and Lewis Jackson
