China’s imports, the world’s largest crude oil importer, rose 43 percent last month, returning Saudi Arabia to the world’s second largest crude oil supplier driven by rising demand from new refineries.

Imports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, reached 6.30 million tonnes, or 1.53 million bpd, compared to 1.07 million bpd in the same period last year, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs on Saturday.

Chinese oil imports from Russia also increased to 6.12 million tonnes,  1.49 million barrels per day, up from 1.35 million bpd in April 2018.

China imported 3.24 million tons of crude oil from Iran, 78,937 barrels a day, up from 54,1100 bpd in March, as companies intensified their purchases before the expiration of US exemptions for major buyers of Iranian oil and the full implementation of sanctions.

China Petrochemical Company (Sinopec Group) and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the two largest state-owned refineries, have abandoned buying Iranian oil for loading in May, three well-informed sources said.

The volume of shipments from Venezuela was 1.9 million tons or 462813 barrels per day in April, an increase of 85 percent compared with March, while imports of Iraqi crude amounted to 3.31 million tons or 806,372 barrels per day, down from 904,500 bpd in March.