Imports of Russian oil to China decreased in January

China's oil imports from Russia fell 30 percent in January from a record high in December, customs data showed. At the same time, imports from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter, fell mildly, by about 5 percent.

The main buyers of Russian crude oil in China were newly emerging importers, new refineries with relatively small capacity and simple processing equipment. For these factories, small freight deliveries in conditions of geographic proximity are beneficial.

With this new demand, Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as China's top supplier for the last four months last year. Independent refiners began importing oil directly in the second half of 2015, after Beijing first granted them quotas. Independent factories are resting at the beginning of 2016 after active purchases at the end of the last year, as a representative of one of these factories clarified.

Customs data showed that Chinese imports from Russia of about 793,000 barrels per day last month were still 15 percent higher than in January 2015, but up from a record 1.13 million barrels per day in December.

Saudi supplies with higher sulfur content and higher volumes are carried out under more stringent long-term contracts and are mainly absorbed by the country's leading state-owned refiners.

Chinese imports from Iran fell 13 percent in January from a year ago to about 408,100 barrels a day, data showed the lack of Iranian condensate continues to limit the level of imports to China.

China's total oil imports in January fell 4.6 percent per year to about 6.3 million barrels per day. Cumulative volumes fell nearly 20 percent last month from a record 7.81 million barrels per day imported in December.