"We predicted that the imports will reach 60 million tons by the end of the year, against the 70 million tons last year," said Zhu Xinshan, a senior expert from the Energy Research Institute under the State Development Planning Commission.

Zhu said the slump in imports mainly derives from the high stocks oil companies placed in reserve last year when oil prices hit a 10-year high.

"They need time to soak it up (stocks)," Zhu said.

In the January-September period, China imported 48 million tons of crude oil, down 7.7 per cent from a year ago. In September alone, imports fell to less than 5 million tons, 26.4 per cent off the same period the previous year.

According to Zhu, crude oil stocks jumped to 20 million tons by the end of last year, much higher than the usual level.

Gong Jingshuang, an oil analyst from the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the nation's largest oil producer, agreed that the imports would drop to 60 million tons, adding that the oversupply of gasoline and diesel on the domestic market has contributed to the decrease in crude oil imports.

China's refineries processed less crude oil because of the sluggish demand for refined oil products on the domestic market.

Crude oil at China's top refiner Sinopec fell 4.2 per cent in the first eight months of this year to 71.42 million tons, according to the industry newsletter China OGP.

The National Bureau of Statistics indicated that national crude oil totalled 138.8 million tons in the January-August period, down 0.6 per cent from the same period last year.

Earlier reports said Sinopec and CNPC have agreed to refine less crude oil in order to cut oil product inventories and support profit margins.

In the previous nine months, China also exported 5.9 million tons of crude oil, up 32 per cent from the same period last year.

Analyst said exports rose in part because Sinopec increased its capacity to process oil from the Middle East.

(China Daily October 30, 2001)