China Weekly Oil Summary:

Onshore crude inventories in China had been drawn down over the past three weeks to the lowest since mid-June according to data tracked by satellite firm Ursa Space Systems. Crude stockpiles stood at around 1.08b barrels in the week to 21 September.

• Imports of fuel oil into China in August declined for the second consecutive month, according to data from the General Administration of Customs Sep. 20.
• Russia remained the top supplier of crude oil to China in August, according to Chinese government data. Total imports in August from Russia were 10.54m mt, or 2.48m b/d, up 26% on the previous year.
• China's diesel exports in August surged to 1.26mn tons, up by 51.5% on the year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, as refiners take advantage of strong regional refining margins to ship fuel overseas.
• “China is one of the key anchors in the oil market, by all measures we can track…..China demand has been excellent this year, ” Martijn Rats, Chief Commodity Strategist of Morgan Stanley told CNBC.
• China will raise domestic end user gasoline prices by 385 y/t and diesel prices will rise by 370 y/t.
• FROM THE PRESS: The People's Bank of China still has room to cut interest rates and add new structural tools to support the economic recovery following the cut to the reserve requirement ratio last week, said Ming Ming, chief economist at CITIC Securities.
• EXCLUSIVE: China’s reference lending rate will likely remain unchanged in September, but uncertainty over economic performance and real-estate sector recovery is increasing expectations of a policy rate cut in the fourth quarter, economists told MNI.
• POLICY: China will not experience deflation in the future as the economy continues to recover, but prices are still low which requires attention, Cong Liang, deputy director at the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters on Wednesday.
• President Vladimir Putin will meet China's Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing in October with the aim to further talks to expand cooperation between their nations.