OREANDA-NEWS. August 01, 2012. Kuwait’s crude oil exports to China jumped 35.5 percent in July from a year earlier to 826,000 tons, equivalent to around 195, 000 barrels per day (bpd), the latest government data showed. Kuwait provided 4.3 percent of China’s total crude oil imports, compared with 3.1 percent in the same month of last year and 5.6 percent in June, according to data released from the General Administration of Customs.

Kuwait’s exports in the first seven months of 2010 totaled 5.85 million tons (202,000 bpd), up 25.3 percent from the same period last year. China’s overall imports of crude oil in July fell 3.2 percent year-on-year to 4.49 million bpd. Saudi Arabia came back as China’s top supplier although its shipments shrank 13.3 percent from a year earlier to 965,000 bpd, followed by Angola with 536,000 bpd, down 28.8 percent. Iran became third, with imports from the country falling 7.6 percent to 481,000 bpd. Kuwait was the seventh-biggest exporter to China in July.

China is the world’s second-biggest oil consumer after the US. The Chinese government in May gave preliminary approval to state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its partner Sinopec for a USD 9 billion oil refinery project in south China’s Guangdong Province, to which Kuwait is expected to supply all the crude.

As the project is included in the China’s 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010), preparatory work for final approval is currently in full swing. The planned project, which could be China’s biggest joint venture of its kind, includes a 300,000 bpd refinery, ethylene cracker with the capacity of 1 million ton per year and a retail network in and around the province.