China Boosts Oil Imports From Russia And Saudi Arabia

China stepped up crude oil imports from both Russia and Saudi Arabia last month, with the Saudis returning to the top spot of Chinese oil suppliers. Citing customs data from Beijing, Reuters reported that Russian oil shipments to China went up by 28 percent on the year in August, to 1.96 million barrels daily. Saudi oil imports, meanwhile, rose by 5 percent on the year to almost 2 million barrels daily. Earlier this year, Russia replaced Saudi Arabia as China’s largest supplier of crude thanks to the price discount prompted by European Union…