RUSSIA overtook Saudi Arabia as China’s top crude oil supplier in April, customs data showed, with imports rising 18 percent from the same month a year earlier as refiners snapped up cheap raw materials amid a price war between the two producers.

Russian shipments reached 7.2 million tons last month, equivalent to 1.75 million barrels per day, according to data from the General Administration of Customs released yesterday.

That compares with 1.49 million barrels per day in April 2019 and 1.66 million barrels per day in March.

Supplies from Saudi Arabia fell to 1.26 million barrels per day, down from 1.53 million barrels per day in April 2019 and 1.7 million barrels per day in March.

China’s total crude oil imports in April came in at 9.84 million barrels per day, up from 9.68 million barrels per day in March, but well below 10.64 million barrels per day in April last year, according to data released earlier this month.

Still, imports during the first four months of the year were up 1.7 percent from a year earlier as Chinese oil refineries take advantage of slumping oil prices.

Analysts have estimated that average utilization rates at independent refineries, known as “teapots,” rose to nearly 70 percent in late April, their level before the virus outbreak, but that State-backed refiners will not climb back to their normal level until May.

(SD-Agencies)