China’s imports of Iranian oil are poised to reach a record 1.75m b/d this month, data from Kpler show. That will surpass the previous peak of 1.66m b/d set in October 2023, according to Kpler data that extends back to January 2013, and is almost 50% higher compared with 1.24m b/d last month. Shipments into Rizhao and Dalian significantly higher m/m, said Muyu Xu, an analyst with Kpler “Chinese teapots see refining margins slightly improving, they now have stronger motivation to ramp up production and therefore need more feedstock,” she said. Flows into Lanqiao/Rizhao and Dalian almost doubled m/m to 342k b/d and 132k b/d, respectively. We got an advance look at China’s record appetite for Iranian oil last week when Bloomberg reported that China imported a record volume of crude from Malaysia last month, pointing to a renewed appetite for cheaper Iranian oil as refiners grapple with lower margins due to an economic slowdown. The world’s biggest crude importer took 6.21 million tons from Malaysia in July, the equivalent to 1.47 million barrels a day, or almost triple the average daily production from the Southeast Asian nation over the course of 2023. Why is this a key leading indicator? Because the seas off […]