OPINION | Asia is buying more oil again, but pre-war volumes still out of reach

Imports of refined fuels also showed some recovery in July, with arrivals of light and middle distillates at 5.76 million bpd, according to Kpler data, 18.5 per cent below the 7.07 million bpd average in the three months to February.

While still some way short of returning to pre-war levels, the July imports of crude are well up from April, when flows were most affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which about 20 per cent of the world's oil and products moved prior to the war.

Asia's imports of crude were 18.77 million bpd in April, the lowest since November 2015, according to Kpler data.

June was the low point for imports of light and middle distillates, when arrivals were just 5.21 million bpd, the lowest in Kpler records going back to 2017.