Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, beat Russia to keep its ranking as China’s top crude supplier in 2020, government data showed on Wednesday.
China’s oil demand remained strong last year even as the COVID-19 pandemic hammered appetite for fuel elsewhere.
The world’s top oil importer, brought in a record 542.4 million tonnes of crude oil in 2020, or 10.85 million barrels per day (bpd). That was up 7.3% from a year earlier.
Annual Saudi shipments to China in 2020 were 84.92 million tonnes, or about 1.69 million barrels per day, data from the General Administration of Chinese Customs showed, up 1.9% from a year earlier.
Russia came in a close second with shipments of 83.57 million tonnes, or 1.67 million bpd, up 7.6% from 2019, the data showed.
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