China’s November crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia jumped nearly 30 per cent from the year before, customs data showed, with the kingdom overtaking Russia to become the largest crude supplier to the world’s No 2 economy.

Imports from Saudi Arabia rose 29.19 per cent on a year earlier to 1.15 million barrels per day (mbpd), while supply from Russia climbed 17.92 per cent to 1.12 mbpd, the figures showed.

Crude oil imports from Iran in November grew 24.48 per cent year-on-year to 611,338 bpd, while imports from Iraq rose 15.68 per cent to 695,148 bpd.

China shipped in 850,425 bpd of crude oil from Angola in November.

South American suppliers Brazil and Venezuela have ramped up shipments by 79.16 and 39.17 per cent respectively over the first 11 months, mostly due to demand from independent refineries.

China’s total crude oil imports in November were up 18.3 per cent on the year at 7.87 mbpd, rebounding strongly from October.

Imports for the first 11 months rose 14 per cent to 7.53 mbpd, which represents an incremental purchase of nearly 925,000 bpd.