KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s crude oil exports to China in December surged 19.2 per cent from a year earlier to 1.73 million tons, government data showed.
Kuwaiti General Administration of Customs says that figure was the highest in any months of last year.
Kuwait provided 10.62m tons (213,000bpd) to China in the full year 2014. This represents an increase by 13.7 per cent on the year.
China’s overall imports of crude oil in December grew 13.4 per cent year-on-year to a record high of 7.18m bpd.
Saudi Arabia maintained its position as China’s top supplier with its shipments rising 8.6 per cent to 1.07m bpd from a year earlier.
Angola came in second place with 911,000bpd, down 4.4 per cent, followed by Russia with imports from the country jumping 85.9 per cent to 880,000bpd.
Oman ranked fourth and Iraq fifth, respectively.
State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) signed a 10-year crude supply deal with China’s top energy trader Unipec in August, the biggest-ever sales contract in KPC’s history by volume and revenues in all regions.
Under the landmark agreement, KPC supplies Unipec 300,000bpd of crude oil, with a strong possibility of increasing the volume to 400,000bpd, KPC told Kuna after the signing ceremony in late August.
