China imported a record 13.5 million barrels of crude oil in November, up 31 percent from a year ago, customs officials said yesterday.

The previous monthly high was 13.46 million tons in September.

"There are a range of factors that decide the volume, such as crude prices and demand at refineries," said Wang Jing, an analyst at Orient Securities Co in Shanghai.

Crude imports rose 15.6 percent to 133.61 million tons from January to November, the customs bureau said yesterday. The government last week issued new criteria regulating the domestic crude oil wholesale market, which is set to open to foreign and private firms under China's commitments to the World Trade Organization. New rules setting out capital-scale and storage-capacity requirements for crude oil sales licenses will take effect next year.

Crude oil imports are now dominated by state-owned giants, including China Petrochemical Corp and China National Petroleum Corp.

Customs also said yesterday that the country exported 5.43 million tons of crude oil from January to November, a drop of nearly 20 percent from the previous year.

Oil product imports rose 21.1 percent to 34.24 million tons in the first 11 months, and exports were down 14.1 percent to 11.19 million tons.

Editor: Yan