*Freshly-released official data show that China imported an average of 10.79mn b/d of crude for January-February 2024. This is up 3% on the year-ago figure though well below 2023’s record annual imports of 11.23mn b/d (MEES, 26 January).
*Russia surged ahead of Saudi Arabia as top supplier for 2023. And there is no sign of this changing so far this year, with Kpler data indicating imports of around 2mn b/d from Russia for Jan-Feb 2024 versus just over 1.4mn b/d from Saudi Arabia (MEES, 8 March). Official by-country import data for the first two months of 2024 is due 20 March. (CONTINUED - 375 WORDS)
