China’s purchases of oil from African countries registered a year-on-year drop of 22.6%, between January and September, according to data from consultancy S&P Global, highlighting the accelerated Asian transition to suppliers in Russia and the Persian Gulf.
This drop further reduced Africa’s share of the Chinese oil market, from 13.2% last year to just over 10% in the first three quarters of 2022, according to a report by the consultancy specializing in the energy market, with based on data from Chinese customs and industry sources.
Angola remains the only African country on the list of China’s top ten oil suppliers, but Luanda is also suffering from the decline in Chinese purchases from the continent. In the first nine months of this year, Angola’s crude oil exports to China fell by 59.4% year-on-year, according to official Chinese data.
According to research by David Shinn, a researcher specializing in China-Africa relations at George Washington University, in 2008, China obtained almost a third of its oil from Africa. In the space of a decade, the volume of Chinese purchases fell by 18%, according to the same source.
The conflict in Ukraine has accelerated this process. Chinese imports from Russia, mainly oil and gas, more than doubled, rising 110.5% in October from a year earlier to US$10.2 billion, according to official data released this week by the General Administration. of the Asian country’s Customs.
China can buy energy from Russia without conflicting with sanctions imposed by the United States, Europe and Japan. Beijing is stepping up shopping to take advantage of Russian discounts. This causes friction with Washington and allied countries by increasing Moscow’s cash flow and limiting the impact of sanctions.
Chinese private sector refiners contributed the most to the decline in purchases from Africa, due to more attractive prices not only from Russia, but also from Iran and Venezuela, according to S&P Global.
This transition in the energy market extends to most of the Asian continent, although it is more evident in the case of China, which is the largest importer of crude oil in the world.
S&P Global expects Asia to end 2022 with a sharp drop in purchases of African oil, amid relatively higher freight rates, a wider gap in Brent and Dubai oil prices and increased competition from European refiners looking for alternatives in Africa, given the sanctions imposed on Russia.
Africa’s share of India’s oil market fell from 12.5% to 8.4% between January and September 2022, compared to the same period last year, as Indian refiners also took advantage of Russian discounts.
Japan and South Korea also reduced their purchases of African oil, but in this case, they increased their purchases from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Persian Gulf.
*With Lusa
