Oil dips on lower China crude imports, but market supported

13:14 • 08.11.17
Economy

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as Chinese crude imports slipped to their lowest level in a year, although traders said the overall market remains well supported because of OPEC-led supply cuts.


Traders said they were closely eyeing escalating tensions in the Middle East, especially between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.


Brent futures LCOc1 were at $63.43 per barrel at 0744 GMT, down 26 cents, or 0.4 percent. The decline follows Brent rising to an over two-year high of $64.65 earlier this week.


US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was at $56.90 per barrel, down 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, from its last settlement. WTI also marked its highest in over two years earlier this week, at $57.69.

 

China’s October oil imports fell sharply from a near record-high of about 9 million barrels per day (bpd) in September to just 7.3 million bpd, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. That is the lowest level since October 2016, though imports were up 7.8 percent from a year ago.


“Lower imports reflected less purchases from independent refineries as many of them are running out of crude quotas for this year,” said Li Yan, oil analyst with Zibo Longzhong Information Group.


For next year, however, independent refiners are likely to boost their imports again as authorities on Wednesday raised the 2018 crude oil import quota by 55 percent over 2017 to 2.85 million bpd.


Overall, oil markets remain well supported largely due to an ongoing effort led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia to withhold supplies to prop up prices.


“Stronger oil fundamentals and investor inflows have been the catalyst for higher oil prices, but adding further support now is a focus on several geopolitical risks that have been looming over oil markets for a while,” said US bank Citi.

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