Saudi Arabia slips to 3rd-biggest in China crude supply for July

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports to China fell in July, taking it out of the top two supplier slots for the first time in two years, after a historic production cut to cope with a plunge in fuel demand and prices that was by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Saudi Arabia shipped 5.36 million tonnes to China last month, the equivalent of 1.26 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

That compares to 8.88 million tonnes in June and 6.99 million tonnes in July last year.

Russia, the biggest crude supplier to China in July, shipped 7.38 million tonnes, or 1.74 million bpd. Iraq rose to second place, shipping 5.79 million tonnes of crude oil to China.