China will import record amounts of crude oil from West Africa this month as OPEC’s supply cuts pave the way for other nations to gain a greater foothold in the fast-growing Asian market.
West African producers led by Angola and Nigeria are set to send crude to China at the rate of 1.48 million barrels a day in April, the most since August 2011, according to loading programmes and traders. Overall Asian imports of West African crude are poised to reach 2.4 million barrels a day this month, also a record.
The surge in flows occurs as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries curbs output in an effort to drain a worldwide glut that has depressed crude prices for nearly three years. As a result, Asia is increasingly turning to other suppliers for crude, including Africa and the US. By the end of the year, China could become the world’s top oil buyer, according to the International Energy Agency.
The output cuts, in place since the beginning of the year, have made Middle Eastern oil relatively more expensive to other grades, evident in the narrowing price gap between Dubai crude and Brent, the global benchmark. This has boosted Asian demand for West African grades linked to Brent, according to Ehsan Ul-Haq, principal consultant at KBC Advanced Technologies.
“Asian interest in Brent-related crudes has grown significantly” due to the shrinking price difference, he said. Asian refinery margins were weak in March, and “in the absence of Middle Eastern barrels, there is no other alternative for Asian refiners than to remain on a buying spree to meet regional demand.”
