China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, saw its crude oil import increased 11% from a year earlier to 140 million metric tons in the first half of this year, according to recent figures from China's General Administration of Customs.

The import value amounted to US$118.38 billion, 24.4% more than it realized in the same period of 2011.

From January to June 2012, the country's refined oil import totaled 20.22 million metric tons, reflecting a YoY decrease of 3.8%. The import value of refined oil rose 4% YoY to RMB17.17 billion during the six-month period.

Meanwhile, China's export of refined oil dropped 9.2% YoY to 11.86 million metric tons with export value of RMB10.68 billion, up 6.2% from a year earlier.