CORRECTED-China's March Iranian oil imports surge on US sanctions fears

By Siyi Liu and Chen Aizhu

SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - China's imports of Iranian oil surged in March as buyers stocked up amid worries that further U.S. sanctions on Tehran could tighten supplies, traders and analysts said.

China's oil imports from Iran surpassed 1.8 million barrels per day last month, an all-time high, coinciding with a rise in inventory levels in independent refining hub Shandong province, according to data by ship tracking firm Vortexa.

Data from analytics firm Kpler put China's Iranian oil imports at 1.71 million bpd in March, up 20% from 1.43 million bpd in February and a five-month high, while two traders who track Iranian flows into China estimated March imports at 1.67 million bpd and 1.8 million bpd, respectively.

China, which opposes unilateral sanctions, buys some 90% of Iran's oil exports, which are mostly trans-shipped in waters off Malaysia and Singapore and rebranded as Malaysian, a trade that has been boosted as more vessels drawn by high fees replaced those under U.S. sanctions, traders and analysts have said.

Iranian oil accounted for 16% of China's March seaborne crude oil imports, Kpler data showed.

Vortexa senior analyst Emma Li and a China-based refining source attributed the rush to buy Iranian barrels to worries among traders and refiners of further supply disruptions.

Overall onshore inventories in Shandong province rose by 22 million barrels in March from February, an amount matching the increased Iranian arrivals, according to Vortexa.

The inventory increase, a record for one month, is concentrated in storage sites at Shandong ports, Li added.

Another trader, an executive at an independent "teapot" refiner, said Iranian oil seems to have "flooded in" last month, with some shipments delivered by dealers into tanks looking for buyers.

The U.S. has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iranian oil trade since President Donald Trump's February call for "maximum pressure" on Tehran, including March sanctions on Shandong teapot refiner Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical.

Li expects China's Iranian oil imports to drop in April as overall demand has not picked up, which will stabilize the year-to-date average in the 1.3-1.4 million bpd range, in line with last year.