An oil tanker berths at a receiving facility at the Port of Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: cnsphoto

The number of oil tankers sailing to China, world's largest importer of crude oil, jumped to a six-month high of 127 on Friday according to data from Bloomberg. It estimated that if fully laden, the vessels would deliver in excess of 250 million barrels. 

The increase in shipments chimed with signs of optimism over the health of demand in the country despite concerns that the coronavirus would limit travel driving the Chinese New Year period, Bloomberg reported in an article on Saturday.

Cheap crude has helped spur the surge in Chinese consumption last year and a collapse in freight is proving helpful for this year as the cost of hiring supertankers fell to its lowest level since at least 2017 on Friday, according to the Bloomberg.

The strong economic recovery of China and the optimistic forecast for this year's economic growth are the main reasons Chinese oil companies have increased crude oil imports, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University told the Global Times on Sunday.

He added that large scale vaccinations launched around the world and optimistic global growth expectations have also spurred a spike in oil prices. 

In 2020, China's total crude oil imports set a new record, rising 7.3 percent to 540 million tons, with an import value of 1.22 trillion yuan ($188 billion), according to the data of the General Administration of Customs of China.

As China is the only country with positive growth among the world's major economies, it is expected that China will maintain a strong recovery in 2021, with strong potential of increasing oil imports, Lin said.

China's crude oil imports have increased year by year from 2011 to 2020 with an average annual growth rate of 8.86 percent, according to data provided by OilChem, an energy and chemical information and market price index provider.

OilChem predicted that China's crude oil imports will reach 585 million tons this year, an increase of 7.85 percent compared with 2020, reaching a new record.

China is the world's largest crude oil importer and 70 percent of its oil supplies are imported. Saudi Arabia and Russia as the most important and stable sources of imports.

Meanwhile, China is also increasing its domestic oil and gas production, with the output reaching 195 million tons in 2020, up two consecutive years, according to the National Energy Administration.