West African oil exports hit by coronavirus effect as Chinese demand falls

West Africa oil exporters are scrambling to deal with a sharp drop in Chinese import demand caused by the coronavirus. China imported around 1.3m b/d of West African crude before the economic jolt caused by the virus. Imports fell to 1.1m b/d in February, causing major disruption to the key market for many sub-Saharan African oil exporters, according to tanker data and crude-loading programmes.Chinese refiners have cut throughputs by around 1.5m b/d since the start of this year or roughly 10% of typical refinery runs.