Kuwait's crude oil exports to China jumped 26.4 percent in March from a year earlier to 945,100 tons, equivalent to around 224, 000 barrels per day (bpd), the latest official data indicated. Kuwait provided 4.5 percent of China's total crude oil imports, compared with 4.6 percent in the same month of last year and 2.1 percent in February, according to the General Administration of Customs. For the first quarter of 2010, Kuwait, OPEC's fourth largest exporter, shipped 2.09 million tons (170, 000 bpd), up 32.1 percent from the January-March period last year. China's overall imports of crude oil surged 28.9 percent year-on-year to 21.06 million tons (4.98 million bpd) in March, just short of December's all-time high of 21.26 million tons (5.03 million bpd). Angola came back as China's top supplier with its shipments increasing 98.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.57 million tons (1.08 million bpd), followed by Saudi Arabia with 3.22 million tons (761,000 bpd), up 29.2 percent. Iran became third, with imports from the country rising 14.8 percent to 2.22 million tons (525,000 bpd). China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer after the US, first became a net oil importer in 1993. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year, 64.5 percent of China's oil consumption is likely to be met by imports in 2020, due to the gap in domestic consumption and production. Its oil dependency reached alarming levels last year with imports accounting for 52 percent of total consumption.
