A decrease of 46%… a decline in US oil exports to China

US crude oil exports to China declined by about half this year due to shifts in China’s economy, which affected demand and increased China’s imports from Iran.
According to the data, US oil exports to China declined during the current year to 81.9 million barrels, a decrease of 46% from last year, which recorded 150.6 million barrels.
This led to China falling to sixth place among the largest buyers of American crude oil, compared to second place last year.

Global prices decline

The slowdown in economic growth in China and the expansion of the use of electric vehicles and other energy sources such as liquefied natural gas have reduced the country’s appetite for crude oil, as its imports from all countries decreased by 7.2% from the previous year.
This weak demand in China has helped push global oil prices down this year, and expectations about Chinese demand next year are a major focus for the market, according to Bloomberg News.
According to the data, China is also working to adjust its oil sources and imported about 26% of its seaborne oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela this year, compared to 24% the previous year.

In general, China still depends mainly on the Middle East to obtain about 60% of the supplies coming via tankers.
At the same time, Europe has become a more important destination for US oil exports, driven in part by the inclusion of West Texas Intermediate crude, the US oil standard, in the Brent basket, the European oil standard.
The European continent has been the first destination for American crude for three years since it replaced Asia as its largest buyer after the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine.