OREANDA-NEWS. January 28, 2014. China's crude oil imports in December rose 13.1% year on year to 26.78 million mt, or an average 6.33 million b/d, according to preliminary data released by the country's General Administration of Customs.

This is a record high volume and surpasses the previous record of 6.27 million b/d seen in September last year.

The December import volume was a 9.9% gain from the 5.76 million b/d imported in November.

The year-on-year growth last month was also stronger than the 0.8% expansion in November and the 13.8% contraction in October, when average crude imports hit a 14-month low of 4.83 million b/d.

China had been expected to import more crude at the end of 2013, ahead of the expected startup of two new refineries in the first quarter of this year.

Despite the higher imports last month, overall crude imports in the fourth quarter of 2013 were 5.64 million b/d, only a tad higher than the 5.63 million b/d in Q4 2012.

This put China's total crude imports for 2013 at 281.95 million mt, or an average 5.66 million b/d, a 4.2% year-on-year increase from the 5.43 million b/d imported in 2012.

The growth, however, was slower than the previous two years, with annual crude imports rising by 6.5% in 2012 and 6% in 2011, which in turn had already eased from the double-digit growth rates seen over 2009-2010.

This year, total refinery capacity expansions in China are expected to reach just over 700,000 b/d, according to estimates by Nomura Research. In addition, the government is expected to award more crude oil import quotas to larger independent teapot refiners in eastern Shandong province. These factors, coupled with potential stockpiling for the second phase of the country's strategic petroleum reserves, could create an overall pull on crude demand, analysts have said previously.

Meanwhile China's total crude exports in December rose 12.5% year on year to 90,000 mt, bringing China's net crude imports during the month to 26.69 million mt, or an average 6.31 million b/d, a 13.1% rise from 2012.

Total crude oil exports for the year slid 33.5% year on year to 1.62 million mt, bringing net crude imports over the period to 280.33 million mt or an average 5.63 million b/d, up 4.5% from 2012.

In terms of oil products, imports in December slid 18.8% year on year to 3.38 million mt, while exports rose 4.8% to 2.64 million mt. This resulted in net oil product imports of 740,000 mt, a 54.9% year-on-year drop.

China's total oil product imports in 2013 edged down 0.6% year on year to 39.59 million mt, while oil product exports jumped 17.5% to 28.51 million mt, the data showed. This brought 2013 net oil product imports to 11.08 million mt, a 28.7% decline from 2012.

Preliminary output data for December, including refinery throughput, is scheduled to be released January 20 by China's National Bureau of Statistics.