Asia Viewpoint: by Ma Dongwei

According to data from the Chinese customs, the country imported 85.14 mil mt of crude oil during January to February, down 4.95 from the same period last year. Crude exports for the period January to February totaled 180,000mt, down 49.81% on year.

Owing to geopolitical risks, international crude prices had surged during January to February and the cost of importing crude oil was more than twice the level of a year ago. To reduce its dependence on external crude, China has been increasing domestic crude production. Along with rising domestic production and falling imports, China's dependence on external crude for January to February dropped 0.3 percentage points from the whole of 2021 to 71.8%.

In February, China hosted the Winter Olympics and Paralympics Games. Oil consumption in the country during this period was not strong and crude demand was low. China's crude consumption during January to February was estimated at 118 mil mt, down 2.36% on year. This also led to a fall in crude imports. Moreover, owing to tension between Russia and Ukraine and with western countries imposing sanctions on Russia, crude oil production and exports from Russia are becoming uncertain. This could affect China's crude imports in March.