Russia, Saudi Arabia were China's largest oil supplier in Nov: report

Russia held its position as China's largest oil supplier for the ninth month in a row in November, while Saudi Arabia ranked the second, Reuters reported, citing Chinese customs data.

Shipments from Russia during November were 5.12 million tons, or 1.26 million barrels per day (bpd), up 11 percent compared to last year. In October, Russia’s shipments were 1.095 million bpd, following a record high of 1.545 million bpd in September.

Saudi Arabia’s shipments to China in November were 1.056 million bpd, down by 7.8 percent compared to last year.

Iraq ranked third in November with 1.023 million bpd.

For the first 11 months of 2017, Russia’s supplies to China have grown by 15.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 54.77 million tons, or 1.2 million bpd, higher than Saudi Arabia by 159,000 bpd.

China's total oil imports reached the second highest record last month at 9.01 million bpd, driven by a new additional batch of import quotas released to independent refiners, the report said.