OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2011. China continued to import high amounts of Crude Oil from Iran, a report by the Chinese General Administration of Customs showed. Iran is the second largest exporter of oil amongst the OPEC nations.

As per the Chinese data, during January-July 2011, Iran's exports to China jumped 46.73% Year-on-Year. China imported 622,000 bpd of oil from Iran in the month of November, a 5.3% increase compared to the same period last year.

A recent dispute between Iran and China with regard to prices is expected to influence the import figures over the coming months. Crude Oil shipments from Iran will drop in January. However, the long standing partnership between China and Iran is unlikely to suffer since China desperately needs energy and Iran needs markets as increasing EU and US sanctions threatens to weaken its exports.

Saudi Arabia pumped in 1.18mbpd of oil in November and remained the top crude oil supplier to China. Angola came in second with 748,000bpd.