Chinas crude-oil imports from Iran fell in March

Chinas crude-oil imports from Iran fell sharply for a second consecutive month after China International United Petroleum & Chemical Co., known as Unipec, skipped purchases due to a commercial dispute with National Iranian Oil Co., which has since been resolved.March crude imports from Iran fell to 1.08 million metric tons, or around 254,000 barrels a day, down 54% compared with a year earlier. Iran was the third-largest supplier of crude last year, shipping about 557,000 barrels a day.The U.S. officials are closely watching to see whether Chinas imports from Iran will recover to previous levels after it imposed sanctions on Tehran over the latters disputed nuclear program. The European Union has also said it will implement an embargo of Iranian crude in July.The U.S. has given countries until June 28 to significantly reduce purchases of Iranian crude oil or face sanctions. However, the Obama administration said last month that it wouldnt impose sanctions against Japan and 10 EU that had moved quickly to cut Iranian imports but hadnt significantly reduced them. On the other hand, 12 countries, including South Korea, India and China, remain at risk of sanctions due to continued purchases of Iranian oil, the U.S. State Department said.March crude imports and production outpaced refinery throughput by about 580,000 barrels a day, a sign of stockpiling. The countrys commercial crude stocks at the end of March, for instance, were up 2% from a month earlier, the state-controlled Xinhua News Agency said last week.Chinas second phase of strategic petroleum reserves totaling 180 million barrels may add an extra 400,000 barrels a day to domestic demand in 2012, J.P. Morgan analysts have said.Finally, the countrys diesel and kerosene trade was almost balanced in March. China imported 55,860 tons of diesel, effectively canceling out exports of 55,956 tons, customs data showed. It also imported 481,738 tons of kerosene and exported 467,562 tons. The country also imported negligible amounts of gasoline but exported about 520,000 tons, while fuel oil imports went up 4.4% to 2.82 million tons.