China H1 crude imports from Iraq up 300%
- Source: Caijing.com.cn
- [16:46 August 24 2009]
- Comments
China's imports of crude from Iraq grew 300 percent year-on-year in the first half, according to Customs data, with analysts citing a recovery in Iraqi production and weak alternative export markets for crude.
China imported 222 million tons of crude in the first six months from Iraq, 36 million tons more than the total for 2008, the General Administration of Customs said.
Zhang Kang, a researcher with a Sinopec-backed think tank, told Caijing that in contrast to buoyant demand from China, demand for crude in Western countries fell due to the economic downturn. US crude imports from Saudi Arabia in May were the lowest in 21 years.
Overall, Chinese first-half crude imports grew 0.3 percent year-on-year to 90.8 million tons.
Iraq exported 337 million barrels of crude in the first half, up 3.9 percent year-on-year. Exports reached 2 million barrels a day in July, the highest level since 2003. Asian countries are the major destinations for Iraqi oil, accounting for about a third of the total in 2008.
China wants to diversify its oil supply by purchasing more crude from Iraq, Zhang said, but the country still contributes only a small fraction of China's total requirement.
Iraq is only the 16th-largest supplier of crude to China, Zhang said.
Iraq's oil reserves have attracted the interest of China's state-owned oil giants. In a joint bid with BP PLC in early July, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) won a 20-year contract to provide technical services to the Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq. Last year, CNPC acquired a service contract to develop the smaller Ahdab field.
Sinopec also acquired oil assets in Iraq via the recent $7.5 billion merger with Addax Petroleum. The Swiss company holds reserves mainly in West Africa and northern Iraq.
