Chinese exports of diesel began to increase rapidly in 2015, driven by a structural shift in China's economy—which is reducing diesel demand—and by reforms in China's refining sector, which are contributing to increased refinery utilization and diesel production. These two factors have pushed Chinese net diesel exports higher, to more than 300,000 barrels per day in April.

“We’re facing a chance of a lifetime to become a global pricing center for commodities,” Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said at the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s annual conference in the city on Wednesday. “On the way to realize this goal, we’ll see very intense competition. We have the advantage of trading size and economic growth, but our legislation is still not sound and we lack enough talent.”

It was the sixth time Russia has moved to the top spot as China's crude supplier, since capturing that spot for the first time in May, 2015.

China’s Yantai Xinchao Industry Co. is pursuing U.S. oil acquisitions worth as much as $1 billion in the Permian Basin, and it won’t be satisfied letting others run the show, according to the head of the company’s U.S. subsidiary.

CNPC and Mozambique’s national oil and gas company ENH have signed a cooperation framework agreement under which the two sides will reinforce cooperation in oil and gas exploration and production, and natural gas processing and marketing.

China's crude oil imports from Russia surged 52.4 percent in April from a year earlier to reach a record 1.17 million barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Monday, ahead of the previous record of 1.13 million bpd in December.

China is Russia’s biggest single trade partner, with its share rising to 12.8 percent from 12 percent in 2015. Even so, the overall turnover of goods fell by 26 percent last year to $68.1 billion. That means the countries are far off reaching their target of $100 billion in trade.

China consumed about 10.62 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in April, a record daily consumption volume, according to Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data published on Friday.

Reform of sprawling state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve efficiency is a priority for China's leaders as growth slows in the world's second biggest economy, and was a key plank of the country's latest five-year plan agreed in 2015.

Rising incomes in China, India, and other emerging Asia economies are a key driver of the global energy outlook. Developing Asia accounts for more than half of the projected increase in global energy use through 2040. This increase will have a profound effect on the development of world energy markets. Clean energy technologies play an important role in the outlook, with renewables expected to be the fastest-growing energy source.