Oil markets got some rare good news out of China this week, with Beijing loosening monetary policy and issuing new import quotas for refiners, boosting hopes that the country’s oil demand will bounce back, OilPrice said.

For the first time in many weeks, news coming out of China has buoyed oil prices, and the timing couldn’t have been better after the Fed hinted at further interest rate hikes and US inventories climbed. China’s issuance of higher oil import quotas and the loosening of Beijing’s monetary policy should see higher activity from Chinese refiners, providing some much-needed demand upside for oil.

China adds impetus to buying with new quota.Giving a new boost to private refineries’ buying in China, authorities in Beijing have issued the 3rd batch of 2023 crude oil import quotas for a total volume of 62.28 million tonnes, taking this year’s total to 194.1 million tonnes, up 20% year-on-year.

IEA sees India becoming the key oil demand driver. According to the International Energy Agency, India will overtake China by 2027 as the largest source of global crude demand growth, with 75% of future global growth in 2023-2028 generally coming from Asian nations.

US sets 12-million-barrel SPR replenishment goal.As the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve remains at the lowest level since 1983, the White House is reportedly hoping to buy back at least 12 million barrels this year, implying there will be another 6 million barrels bought in October-December 2023. 

/OilPrice/