China’s oil product exports soar in H1 2016

The country’s crude demand may be slowing but sales are ramping up

China's oil products exports increased by 30% in the first half of this year, buoyed by higher government quotas, slowing domestic demand and record-breaking shipments in June. Between January and June, China exported 170.85m barrels (22.2m tonnes) of oil products, according to data released by the Joint Oil Data Initiative. That's 51.1m barrels higher than in the first half of 2015 - a rise of around 30%. Export volumes in June reached a record 33.38m barrels, with flows averaging 1.11m barrels a day. That is China's highest-ever daily export level and an increase of 242,460 b/d from June 2015. Across the entire month of June, exports were almost 7.3m barrels higher than a year earlier - a