BEIJING: China's crude oil imports rose 38.7 percent in May from a year ago - the biggest jump in more than six years - to 7.59 million barrels per day (bpd), as the nation's independent refiners scooped up volumes and stockpiling maintained momentum.
China imported 32.24 million tonnes of crude oil in May, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday, down 4.2 percent from April on a daily basis.
"The year-on-year growth is massive at 2.125 million bpd from a very low May 2015 base ... driven by demand from teapots and crude stockpiling," said Virendra Chauhan, an analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects.
Independent refineries, nicknamed " teapots", have become a major contributor to China's total crude imports after being granted import licences last year, but a rebound in global oil prices looks set to eat into their processing margins.
Still, analysts expect China's crude imports to stay at a high level in the second half, due to the renewed demand from teapots and the start up of new infrastructure.
China did not export crude oil in May, after shipping a total of 1.08 million tonnes of oil in the previous four months.
In the January to May period, China imported 155.91 million tonnes of crude oil, or 7.49 million bpd, up nearly 16 percent on a daily basis from the same period last year.
China's oil product imports jumped 29.7 percent to 3.01 million tonnes in May from the same period a year ago, customs data showed. Exports reached 3.82 million tonnes, leaving net exports at 810,000 million tonnes.
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