Saudi Arabia remained the top crude supplier to China in the first two months of this year, Chinese customs data show. Imports surged from Iraq and Oman while deliveries from Norway hit a record high.

China imported 1.8mn b/d and 1.95mn b/d of Saudi crude in January and February respectively, or 17pc of total crude imports in the period. This left Saudi Arabia as the top supplier to China so far this year, a position it held for the second consecutive year in 2020 with deliveries of 1.7mn b/d.

The customs data were released a day after state-controlled Saudi Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser said China's energy security will be the highest priority for the company for the next half century at least.

China's total crude imports were 10.54mn b/d in January and 11.78mn b/d in February, the customs data show, a rebound from a two-year low of 9.1mn b/d in December.

China increased its imports from Iraq and Oman to 1.51mn b/d and 1.1mn b/d respectively in February, gains of 36pc and 46pc from last year. Imports from Russia were 1.92mn b/d last month, the second-highest level on record, up by 23pc from January and 15pc higher than in February 2020.

China continued to raise imports from Norway, which hit a record high of 425,000 b/d in February, compared with 187,000 b/d a year earlier.

China was the destination for over 30pc of Norway's crude exports in January, also the highest share on record. Around 481,000 b/d of Norwegian crude headed to China in January, according to Norwegian customs data, up from 401,000 b/d in December.

The customs figures showed no imports from Iran in January or February, after 122,000 b/d was delivered in December. But unofficial data suggest China's Iranian purchases may have surged this year, with more than 500,000 b/d of unaccountable crude — the origin of which cannot be tracked easily — arriving in China in January and a further 400,000 b/d in February-March, data from oil analytics firm Vortexa show. And large amounts of Iranian crude, delivered to China through complex ship-to-ship transfer operations in southeast Asia, continue to arrive.

Imports from the US were 376,000 b/d in February, down by more than half from December but up from zero a year earlier.