China's crude oil imports jumped 13.4 percent in December from a year earlier to 30.37 million tons, or 7.18 million barrels a day (bpd), marking a new record high, government data showed Tuesday.
Imports also grew 15.6 percent on daily basis from November's imports of 6.21 million bpd, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs. Crude oil imports in the whole year totaled 308.38 million tons (6.20 million bpd), up 9.4 percent from 2014.
According to estimates by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), China is likely to surpass the US in net oil imports on an annual basis in 2014 as US oil production and Chinese oil demand increase simultaneously.