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Tag: OPEC

  • Nigeria’s oil production disruptions dip OPEC’s output

    Nigeria’s oil production disruptions dip OPEC’s output

    Crude oil production of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)  dipped by 310,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, as unplanned disruptions in Nigeria reduced the group’s supply before deliberate cuts take effect this month.

    Nigeria’s daily output dropped by 200,000 bpd to 1.45 million in December, ending three months of gains as the nation struggled to restore capacity after a year of militant attacks on oil infrastructure. Saudi Arabia’s production fell by 50,000 bpd while Venezuela declined by 40,000.

    “Crude production in Nigeria in December was once again severely impacted, mostly due to a field maintenance as well as a strike of port workers,”  Chief oil analyst at London-based consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., Amrita Sen, explained by e-mail.

    The decline in December comes as OPEC, which controls around 40 per cent of global supply, is planning to curb output in a bid to boost oil prices. The organisation reached a historic deal last month with Russia and other non-members to cut global production by almost 1.8 million bpd starting this month.

    Brent crude, the global benchmark, advanced 52 per cent last year, the biggest annual gain since 2009. Prices were down 0.3 per cent at $56.31 a barrel as of 6:39 a.m. London.

    Overall, OPEC-excluding Indonesia which suspended its membership on Nov. 30-pumped 33.1 million bpd in December, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. That compares with a November total of 33.41 million bpd for the 13 continuing members of the group, or 34.14 million including Indonesia’s daily output of 730,000 barrels.

    Under the terms of last month’s agreement, OPEC’s total output including Indonesia would fall to 32.5 million bpd. Compliance with that target will be judged against independent estimates compiled by OPEC, which can vary from the Bloomberg News survey.

    In Nigeria, which along with Libya is exempt from making cuts because of conflict,  maintenance on the Erha field and strike action by workers at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s operations in the country disrupted both exports and production, Sen said. A year ago, the country was pumping almost 2 million bpd.

    No cargoes of the Agbami crude grade were shipped in first half of December, while three out of the four Erha cargoes originally scheduled to load were deferred, with two of those moved into January, according to loading programs obtained by Bloomberg.

    Iran, Kuwait and Angola each reduced output by 20,000 barrels a day while Algeria and Iraq dropped by 10,000, the survey showed.

    Libya pumped an extra 50,000 barrels a day last month as the Northern African nation reopened two of its biggest oil fields and loaded the first cargo in two years from its largest export terminal.

  • Oil prices soar to $58 on global output cut deal

    Oil prices soar to $58 on global output cut deal

    Oil prices shot up over four percent to their highest level since 2015 early on Monday after OPEC and other producers over the weekend in Vienna reached the first output cut deal since 2001 .

    They jointly reduced output in order to rein in oversupply and prop up the market.

    Brent sweet crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, soared to 57.89 dollars per barrel in overnight trading between Sunday and Monday, its highest level since July 2015.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also hit a July 2015 high of 54.51 dollars a barrel.

    With the deal finally signed after a year,the market’s focus will now switch to compliance with the agreement.

    ANZ bank said that Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled oil company, had informed customers that their allocations would be reduced in January 2017, in line with the recent OPEC production cut agreement.”

    OPEC has said it will slash output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1, with top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting around 486,000 bpd in a bid to end overproduction .

    Oversupply has dogged markets for over two years and pushed the economies of many oil exporting countries into crisis.

    On Saturday, producers from outside the 13- country OPEC group agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd, short of the initial target of 600,000 bpd .

  • Oil hits $55.33 per barrel OPEC agreement

    Oil hits $55.33 per barrel OPEC agreement

    Crude Oil rose above 55 dollars a barrel as rising prospects of a tightening market after last week’s OPEC landmark deal to cut production has given speculators impetus to increase bets on higher prices.

    Monday’s gains take the rally since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ agreement was struck on Wednesday to 19 percent for Brent and 16 percent for U.S. crude.

    Last week’s 12.2 percent increase was the largest one-week rise since February 2011. “OPEC sentiment continues to support oil markets.

    Speculative short positions are still at elevated levels and as more traders unwind these positions they could trigger more support for oil prices,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.

    Brent crude rose to hit 55.33 dollars , its highest since July 2015. U.S. crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at a peak point for the day of 52.42 dollars , also the highest since July 2015.

    About 380,483 lots of the front-month contract were traded some 57 per cent of the previous session’s volume.

    Weekly data from the InterContinental Exchange on Monday showed investors had raised net long positions on Brent to the highest level in four weeks.

    After OPEC agreed to curb production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January, eyes have now turned to a meeting this weekend between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to expand the deal.

    Non-OPEC producers are expected to agree to add an output cut of 600,000 bpd in Vienna on Dec. 10.

    Iran, which was granted an output rise as part of the OPEC deal as it recovers production curbed by sanctions, will also attend the meeting, media said.

  • Hope rises for economy as Nigeria, others get OPEC relief

    Hope rises for economy as Nigeria, others get OPEC relief

    The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) OPEC stunned the business world at its 171st Conference last Wednesday. The cartel announced that its members will cut production by 1.2 million barrels daily. Nigeria, Libya and Iran were exempted. Assistant Editor NDUKA CHIEJINA, who was in Vienna, the Austrian capital, venue of the conference writes that the planned cut remains the most significant business decision taken by the cartel in a decade.

    After some failed attempts, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has taken a step to protect its members’ pot of cash. Skeptics were confounded last Wednesday when members of the cartel agreed in Vienna, the Austrian capital, to cut supply as outlined in Algiers two months ago.

    The cartel agreed to cut production by about 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million. It also secured a commitment from Russia to reduce its output by 300,000 next year. Non-OPEC members were also convinced to key into the deal.

    It was OPEC’s first production cut  in eight years and a move intended to reduce the global oil stockpiles which have grown to unmanageable levels as well as boost the revenue of member-countries, many of whom have slid into financial crises.

    The journey to the historic cut was not without intrigues, petro-diplomacy and stiff opposition. Those opposed to the deal were allowed to part ways with the organisation if it sailed through.  The ‘Algiers Accord’ first move to cut production, was reached in September. A high-level committee on the implementation of the ‘Algiers Accord’ was raised and mandated to form a consensus among OPEC members on the basis of a proposal put forward by Algeria to implement a new range of targeted production levels.

    After the accord came the petro-diplomacy of OPEC’s Secretary-General, Mohammed Barkindo. The shuttle diplomacy saw the Nigerian-born Barkindo visiting Iran, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia. He was invited by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in October for assurances that the cartel would find a solution to the ‘run-away’ price of crude oil. Beyond the trips, Barkindo used other approaches, including phone calls. It was learnt that he exchange messages with oil ministers’ of OPEC and non-OPEC member-countries on WhatsApp platforms, all in a bid to drum up support for the decision.

    “I had to go to Baghdad and Tehran to meet their leaderships, because at some points, the issues became more political than the issues on the ground, and therefore necessitated the need to meet with their leaderships to seek for their understanding, supports and to facilitate dialogue within the group”, Barkindo told The Nation in Vienna last week.

    At OPEC’s 171st Conference, the cartel’s President, who doubles  as the Energy & Industry Minister of the State of Qatar, Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, said member-countries “in line with recommendations from the high-level committee of the ‘Algiers Accord’, agreed to institutionalise a framework for cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries on a regular and sustainable basis. The conference underscored the importance of other producing countries joining the agreement.

    “Russia was engaged on this and with the help and assurances from Saudi that OPEC members would agree to production cut in support of Russia’s assistance to get non-OPEC members to also agree to some measure of cuts to help raise the price of crude.”

    Barkindo told reporters that “bigger volumes of oil in storage mean lower prices, but the agreement of last Wednesday to cut production will accelerate the decline of global stockpiles.”

    Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino at the end of the conference told Bloomberg that “within nine months, OPEC’s deal should bring inventories closer to normal levels and potentially lift crude prices as high as $70 a barrel.”

    Barely days after the production cut announcement, the price of crude oil has crossed the $50 per barrel border with Brent reaching its highest level in more than a year. The deal is expected to bring global oil supply and demand back into balance early next year, faster than previously expected.

    Not a smooth sail all through

    But it was not a smooth sail. Indonesia, which only returned to OPEC last year after a seven-year absence threw spanner in the works as the deal inched towards completion. The returnee OPEC member was however sacrificed to see the deal through.

    Indonesia, which has been buying more oil than its production was sacrificed.  So, its objection to the planned cut at the minister’s’ meeting was a view the cartel could not entertain. The Asian country was therefore obliged to suspend itself again from the cartel.

    According to Bloomberg whose contact was privy to pre-decision negotiations at the ministers’ meeting, “the terms of the agreement obliged the Asian country to cut output by 34,000 barrels a day, yet its delegation was permitted to authorise a reduction of just 5,000. The difference – a minuscule 0.03 per cent of global output – was about to derail the biggest oil-market accord in years. A harsh solution was chosen: for a second time, Indonesia’s membership was to be suspended.”

    In his capacity as OPEC president, Al-Sada announced that Indonesia’s quota cut would be spread among other members in order to keep production from getting out of control.

    No cut for Nigeria, Libya, Iran

    Another issue that generated a lot of talk after the conference was the exclusion of Nigeria, Libya and Iran from the implementation of the production cut.

    Libya was exempted because of the ongoing crisis in the country since the death of its former leader Mohammed Ghadafi.

    The  grace was extended to Nigeria because of the activities of Niger Delta militants, who have consistently attacked oil infrastructure. The attendant effect of pipeline vandalism (which has not allowed the country to meet it daily production quota) on the economy, informed OPEC’s decision to leave out Nigeria.

    Barkindo said on the decision: “Nigeria is a very important member of OPEC. It has always been a leading advocate of market stability. What OPEC did in drafting the Algiers accord, if you recall, is to take into account the special circumstances of Nigeria plus Iran and Libya, to allow these other countries to restore their production capacity and capabilities before they can participate in any supply management.”

    Nigeria, whose output has been crippled by militant attacks on its oil facilities could see production rise to 1.65 million barrels a day next year from 1.57 million a day in October, Deutsche Bank AG analysts said in a report.

    “One of the key things, and potentially the deal breaker, will be what happens if Nigeria or Libya recovers some of their production,” said Spencer Welch, a director at consultants IHS Energy. “Will OPEC stick to the 32.5 million maximum, and if so, who will provide the extra cuts?”

    Task before Fed Govt

    To leverage on Nigeria’s exemption, the Federal Government  must find a way stop the militants in the Niger Delta from bombing oil facilities by adopting a peaceful solution, rather applying military force to solve the problem.

    By peacefully securing the goodwill of the militants to stop the attacks, the government will make gains from accruing revenue from crude oil sale and at a reasonable price.

    However, time is of the essence. The six months of assessing the agreement would soon expire and should the government and the militants failed to strike a deal, the exemption would be of no significant benefit to Nigeria and its economy, which is already in recession, will be the worse for it.

    But, there are concerns that “even if countries stick to their output caps, those that were granted exemptions could make the collective target unreachable if they boost production. The difficulty of monitoring non-OPEC cuts adds a further layer of uncertainty.”

    Olivier Jakob, managing director of Zug, Switzerland-based consultants Petromatrix GmbH lamented: “You do have a problem with production compliance for sure. Rising output from Libya and Nigeria – both exempt from cuts – will push OPEC production beyond the quota next quarter, while it will be very difficult to get 100 percent compliance from non-OPEC countries.”

    Financial giant and keen market watcher Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in its analysis: “Focus will now shift to implementation. Evidence of compliance could add $6 a barrel to its oil-price outlook.”

    Another oil market analyst, Jefferies Group LLC, said: “OPEC’s adherence to the agreement will be critical and its track record is poor, while compliance by non-OPEC producers is even more tenuous.”

  • ‘OPEC ‘ll strike supply cut deal’

    ‘OPEC ‘ll strike supply cut deal’

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is on course to finalise the details of the Algiers accord to cut oil production at a meeting in Vienna on  said a delegate from Nigeria.

    “There is certainty that everybody is on board. Everyone knows that the stakes are high,”Ibrahim Waya told reporters on his way into a meeting at the secretariat of OPEC.

    Oil traders and analysts have grown more confident this week that OPEC will reach a deal to curb global oversupply. After a first day of talks in the Austrian capital on Monday — a warm-up for a ministerial meeting next week — Libyan OPEC Governor Mohamed Oun said the discussions went well. Oil has risen 6.9 per cent in New York this week, the biggest two-day gain since September.

    OPEC proposed in September limiting output to a collective 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day, which would be its first cut in eight years. The group’s own estimates show production at 33.6 million barrels a day last month.

    The main hurdles to finalising the Algiers accord have been demands from some members for exemptions from cuts. Iran has sought special treatment since it is newly free of international sanctions, while Iraq has contested OPEC’s production estimates that would form the basis for the accord. This week’s meeting in Vienna, alongside intensive diplomacy among member states, is aimed at resolving those differences.

    “The rise in prices since the end of last week can be explained by the growing expectation that OPEC will agree on production cuts at its meeting next week,” Commerzbank AG said in a note. “It looks as if Saudi Arabia and its allied Gulf neighbors will reduce production on their own, though only on condition that the other OPEC states do not step up their output.”

    West Texas Intermediate crude rose as much as two per cent to $49.20 a barrel.

    “The Algerian plan is the only plan that has been on the cards,” Waya said. It would be a six-month agreement to take effect in January, he added.

    The original proposal discussed in the Algerian capital was for every member, with the exception of Libya, Nigeria and Iran, to reduce their output by 1.6 percent from the average January-to-August level, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. That would take group production to 32.4 million barrels a day, with Saudi Arabia cutting by 442,000 barrels a day and Iraq trimming 135,000 compared with August levels.

    OPEC has spent the almost two months since the Algiers meeting trying to work out how to share out supply curbs. Iraq has since sought an exemption from making cuts, arguing that its fight against Islamic State justifies special treatment. Iraq will make “new proposals” to help reach an agreement, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said in an e-mailed statement Nov. 21.

    Non-OPEC nations including Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, will meet with OPEC members in Vienna on Nov. 28 to discuss cooperation on oil-supply curbs. Energy Minister Alexander Novak has repeatedly said Russia would prefer to freeze output at current record levels than make cuts.

    “You had President Putin clearly speaking yesterday about this agreement to freeze,” Waya said. “He calls it freeze which is the language that everybody will be interested in.”

  • Oil rallies 3% ahead OPEC meeting

    Oil rallies 3% ahead OPEC meeting

    Oil prices rose three per cent yesterday to their highest in three weeks, catching a lift from a weaker dollar, as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)  move closer to agreeing an output cut when it meets next week.

    Brent crude futures gained $1.44 to $48.30 a barrel having touched their loftiest level since Nov. 1, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures strengthened by $2.01 to $47.70 a barrel.

    Brent has risen 11 per cent in a week since OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, started a diplomatic offensive to persuade the cartel’s more reluctant members to join its proposed output cut.

    ABN Amro chief energy economist,  Hans van Cleef said: “The possibility for such a deal has increased, but there is also the risk of course that the market is overreacting here, especially as the agreement will really have to be a surprise to push oil prices very much higher.

    “The most important part is that (OPEC) will need to stick to the deal, but it’s also the most difficult.”

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said he saw no obstacle to non-OPEC member Russia agreeing to freeze oil output, which at more than 11 million barrels per day is at a post-Soviet high.

    Meanwhile, OPEC members last week proposed a deal for Iran to cap, rather than cut, output.

  • OPEC to seal output cut deal

    OPEC to seal output cut deal

    Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will resolve some knotty issues standing in the way of the agreement to cut production at its meeting holding in Vienna, Austria on November 30.

    The members agreed in Algiers, Algeria on September 28 to limit supply with special conditions given to Libya, Nigeria and Iran, whose output has been hit by wars and sanctions. The agreement was tagged “Algiers Accord.”

    According to Reuters’ sources, details are to be finalised when OPEC ministers meet.

    The sources said OPEC officials were working to nail down details of their plan to limit oil supply and gaps over some sticking points are narrowing, a sign of progress in finalising the exporter group’s first such deal since 2008.

    With two weeks to the meeting, differences persist over details and the prospect of a supply glut persisting next year has weighed on oil prices, which are below $47 a barrel. Crude reached a 2016 high near $54 after the September deal.

    “It is difficult at some points but I don’t see any deadlock. What happened in Algeria gave a lot of hope and impetus and I think people are committed to that,” a source told Reuters.

  • EU, OPEC back stable global oil market

    EU, OPEC back stable global oil market

    The European Union (EU) and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have pledged their support to ensure a stable global oil market.

    After a joint roundtable tagged: “Prospective for Future Production of Non-Crude Liquids”, held in Brussels, Belgium, the two groups agreed that in the light of  current challenges in the energy markets, ongoing dialogues of this nature would continue to be of great importance. Both parties agreed that a stable and orderly energy market is essential for both producers and consumers, and a pre-requisite for achieving sustained world economic growth.

    The roundtable provided an outlook of the production levels of non-crude liquids around the world from 2000 to 2015. It outlined projected long-term supply estimates to 2040, using three different scenarios to enable a more detailed assessment of the potential outcomes.

    It also focused on non-crude liquids, which include natural gas liquids, biofuels and fuels derived from gas-to-liquids and coal-to-liquids processes. Based on the findings of the study, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and biofuels are expected to make up the majority of non-crude liquids supply in the long term, while gas-to-liquids and coal-to-liquids will most likely play a lesser role.

    It evaluated how these liquids might impact conventional fuel production, including bioethanol’s impact on gasoline supply, biodiesel production on diesel’s share of the market and NGLs’ market position in relation to liquefied petroleum gas.

    Other topics discussed included environmental impacts as well as regulatory issues and governmental policies, especially in relation to biofuels. It was agreed by both parties that the study was informative and useful in assessing the future outlook for non-crude liquids and any potential impacts they may have on their constituencies, either directly or indirectly.

    The parties concluded that continued dialogue and exchanges of views between the EU and OPEC were essential for improving understanding and supporting their mutual interests of promoting oil market stability and predictability.

    It was also agreed that the Roundtable’s deliberations and outcomes would provide valuable input to the next event held under the EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue, which would be the 13th high-level meeting to be held in Vienna, Austria in the first half of 2017.

    The event was co-chaired by Erlendas Grigorovic, Acting Head of Unit for the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy and Oswaldo Tapia, Head of OPEC’s Energy Studies Department and Officer-in-Charge of the Research Division.

    The roundtable was part of the formal EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue, which was established in 2005 to promote the exchange of views on energy issues of common interest, including oil market developments, and the potential this has for contributing to stability, transparency and predictability in the market.

  • ‘OPEC, Russia deal to frustrate huge U.S. shale output’

    ‘OPEC, Russia deal to frustrate huge U.S. shale output’

    Russia and Middle Eastern oil producers want to keep oil prices between $50 and $60 per barrel,  RBC Capital Markets said at the weekend.

    It added that supply from the United States (U.S.) remained real problem for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

    Drop in U.S. fuel inventories forced oil price to climb above $52 per barrel on Friday amid plans from OPEC and major non-OPEC producers for a supply freeze agreement to help stabilise prices.

    Managing Director/Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets, Helima Croft, said: “I think that Saudi Arabia, OPEC and the Russians hope that some U.S. production will come back but $50 to $60 is probably not enough to resurrect the entire U.S. shale complex.

    “I don’t think they are aiming for $70 to $80, because I don’t think they want to bring it all back.” Croft told CNBC at the weekend that Russia and the Middle East want a “steady grind higher, not a gallop” in terms of prices.

    With oil prices above $70 per barrel production from shale will be economic and profitable but at $50 per barrel, oil production from shale would be uneconomic.

    In their most recent note RBC capital markets see WTI and Brent averaging $51 per barrel and $53 per barrel over the rest of this year, before increasing to $56.50 per barrel and $59 per barrel on average next year.

    November’s OPEC meeting is seen as the forum where a supply freeze deal will stand or fall. RBC’s Croft said it will be down to Saudi Arabia whether anything meaningful is achieved.

    “Almost all these other countries are basically maxed out and really it will have to be the Saudi’s and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) who takes the cut,” she said. “If the Saudi’s incentivise the deal, I think it gets done,” she added.

    And on fears that Libya will ramp up supply to previous levels, Croft said political turmoil in the country would prevent that happening. “Libya has three governments at the moment; there are 100 militias in Tripoli. The country is awash with weapons. It’s like asking Somalia to get their act together,” she said.

    OPEC’s output has increased with Iran’s crude oil production reaching 3.665 million barrels per day in September, OPEC said in a monthly report published on October 12.

    OPEC crude oil production averaged 33.39 million barrels per day (mb/d) in September, increasing by 0.22 mb/d over the previous month, according to secondary sources.

    Crude oil output increased mostly from Iraq, Nigeria and Libya, while production in Saudi Arabia showed the largest drop. Iran has repeatedly stated that it plans to increase oil output to 4 million barrels per day by March next year.

    Iran has the fourth largest oil reserves and the largest natural gas reserves in the world, while the country is also the third largest exporter of oil in the world and has nearly doubled since sanctions were lifted on its oil exports in January 2016. In fact, Iran is recovering market share faster than many experts had expected.

    China and India are looking to further lock down Iranian supply, with a large planned investment in Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure. Iran is seeking $130 billion worth of investment to bring its energy sector up to date after years of sanctions, Reuters reported.

     

  • Oil prices fall on higher OPEC production

    Oil prices fall on higher OPEC production

    Oil prices fell yesterday after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said its production had risen to the highest level in at least eight years and following reports of an increase in Inuted States (U.S.) crude stockpiles.

    Brent crude futures were trading at $51.46 per barrel at 0645 GMT, down 35 cents, or 0.68 per cent, from their previous close.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 42 cents, or 0.84 per cent, at $49.76 per barrel.

    Traders said oil markets had come under pressure after the OPEC reported a rise in output, despite the cartel’s plans, potentially with non-OPEC producer Russia, to cut production in a bid to rein in a global glut.

    “Crude responded predictably, with both Brent and WTI falling,” said Jeffrey Halley of brokerage OANDA.

    OPEC had two days ago reported its oil production climbed in September to the highest in at least eight years, and raised its forecast for 2017 non-OPEC supply growth, pointing to a larger surplus next year despite the group’s proposal to cut output.

    The group pumped 33.39 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, up 220,000 bpd in August.

    “In the absence of any OPEC-Russia headlines to give crude its daily adrenaline shot, the market looks nervously to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) crude inventory figures due in the U.S. this evening,” Halley said.

    The EIA is due to publish official storage inventory data later yesterday.

    The private American Petroleum Institute reported two days ago that U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels to 470.9 million barrels in the week to Oct. 7. This would be the first rise in oil stocks following five straight weeks of declines.

    “Seasonally softer gasoline consumption, flagging demand from China and the return of refineries from maintenance will likely drive up global stock levels over Q4,” BMI Research said, but added that it did not see stocks returning to last year’s highs.

    But the market received some support from China, which imported record volumes of crude oil last month, eclipsing the U.S. as the world’s top buyer of foreign oil for the third time in a year, in a trend that could soon put the Asian nation at the top of the world’s oil import table permanently.

    China’s September crude imports rose 18 per cent from a year earlier to 33.06 million tonnes, or 8.04 million bpd on daily basis, customs data showed, compared with the U.S. four-week average of 7.98 million bpd.