German crude imports fell by 3.7% to a multi-decade low of 1.68mn b/d for 2020. Official preliminary data which splits out the top six suppliers shows that none were Mena countries – Libya was number four with 170,000 b/d for 2019 (MEES, 21 February 2020).
As with Spain (MEES, 19 February) the two big gainers were suppliers of light sweet crude able to substitute for the collapse in Libya volumes (MEES, 29 January). Kazakhstan was up 17% at 154,000 b/d and the USA up 76% to a record 192,000 b/d. (CONTINUED - 107 WORDS)