China’s crude oil imports are estimated to have declined by 8.81 percent month over month in March to stand at 11.26 million barrels per day (bpd), energy analytics services provider OilX said, noting that its assessment doesn’t show massive crude flows from Iran into China last month. In recent weeks, various reports have suggested that China has been considerably boosting its crude oil imports from Iran—so much so that the ports in the Shandong province, where most independent refiners are based, are experiencing tanker traffic congestions. According to some estimates, China was taking in some 856,000 bpd or even ... (full story)