Oil's Recovery Under Threat as Tankers Run in Circles Off China

Margin Drop

“Weakening margins are likely to have a stronger impact on independent refineries in China and this will lead to lower crude imports,” said Hong Sung Ki, a senior analyst at Samsung Futures Inc. in Seoul. “That will result in a downward revision for China demand and this will inevitably have a negative impact on oil prices.”

Meanwhile, ships continue to be held up at Qingdao. At least 16 oil tankers with capacity to carry 21.2 million barrels have stayed near the port for more than 10 days over May 1-23. Half of them were there for more than a month, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

- With assistance from Alfred Cang. To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Sarah Chen in Beijing at schen514@bloomberg.net ;Sharon Cho in Singapore at ccho28@bloomberg.net ;Serene Cheong in Singapore at scheong20@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pratish Narayanan at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net Dan Stets