China's crude oil imports up 13.9%

China's crude oil imports rose 13.9 percent in October from a year earlier to 23.68 million tons, or 5.60 million barrels a day (bpd), latest government data showed. Imports also increased 17.9 percent from September's 20.08 million tons (4.91 million bpd), according to data released by the General Administration of Customs. In the first 10 months of this year, crude oil imports also gained 7.1 percent from the same period in 2011 to 5.39 million bpd. As the country's economic growth begins to pick up, China is expected to use 9.64 million bpd in the fourth quarter, which would result in the largest quarterly increase since the same period of 2010, the state-run China Daily said last Friday, citing industry experts. China, the world's second-largest user of crude, imported 1.9 billion barrels of the oil in 2011, an amount up 6 percent year-on-year.