Chinese firms sold crude aggressively in recent weeks, Mercuria CEO says

Chinese oil companies have been aggressive sellers of crude in recent weeks, reducing demand from several countries by offering barrels aggressively in tenders, Mercuria Energy Group CEO Marco Dunand said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, Dunand said Chinese firms had been selling crude oil actively over the last two to three weeks.

"What has been happening in the last two or three weeks is actually that they have been aggressively selling crude oil," he said.

He added that the sales had "taken out a lot of demand from various countries" as Chinese companies offered cargoes aggressively in tenders.

Dunand said there could be several explanations behind the selling, including the release of oil inventories in China, continued sales of Iranian oil in the weeks following the start of the war, and possible expectations that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen sooner than it has.

He also said Mercuria expects Chinese gasoline demand to decline by 1 million barrels per day this year due to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, which may also have contributed to the recent crude sales.

On the outlook, Dunand said the current pace of selling may continue for only a limited period.

"How long can they do this for? I think the guess would be probably for about another three weeks, and then I think at that point they would have to revise their position," he said.