Angola becomes China's top source of crude oil

Angola became the top source of crude imports to China in February, replacing Saudi Arabia, a Swiss-based analyst said.
The former Portuguese colony shipped 2.12 mm tons of crude to China in February, ahead of Saudi Arabia's 1.98 mm tons, Petromatrix, a trade advisory and risk management company, said.

In January, Angola was China's third-biggest supplier shipping 1.55 mm tons of crude, behind Iran's 1.89 mm tons and 1.55 mm tons shipped by Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude exporter, Petromatrix said.
"Chinese imports of Angolan crude are up 42 % on year and taking most (of) the Angolan production increase," the analyst said.

Angola, sub-Saharan Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria, is set to double its production of oil in the next three years to reach 2 mm bpd in 2008, according to the Britain-based oil consultancy Wood MacKenzie. Imports account for more than 40 % of China's oil consumption, according to the Beijing government which has been assiduously wooing Angola.
It extended an oil-backed $ 2-bn credit line to the country which is emerging from a brutal 27-year civil war. China is becoming the biggest player in its reconstruction process.

Rapidly developing China, which aims to have strategic oil reserves of about 100 mm barrels between three and five years from now, had by last year become the second largest importer of Angolan petroleum after the United States. The credit line put Beijing in a favourable position for winning tenders for oil exploration.
China's advantageous position has raised questions from critics who point out that the Angolan government is using it to bypass concerns that it is not transparent in the handling of its huge oil resources and stress that the benefits of oil money have yet to trickle down to the large majority of Angolans.

China plans to spend 180 bn yuan ($ 22.5 bn) in the oil refining and petrochemical sector in the next five years, state media quoted an industry insider as saying recently.
Duan Wende, vice president of the country's largest oil producer PetroChina, was quoted as saying China aimed to build five 10-mm-ton oil refining bases in the coming five years.