Per a Reuters report, Saudi Arabia has remained China’s number-one crude oil supplier, customs data for October has shown. Saudi oil exports to China increased by 19.5% from the previous month, averaging 1.67 million barrels per day. While this was an increase year over year, it was a decrease from September, when Saudi exports to China were 1.94 million bpd.

According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia has now been China’s top oil supplier for 11 months in a row, with the average daily import rate for the period January to October increasing by 5.8% over the previous year.

In doing so, the Kingdom dethroned Russia, which had held the top spot for most of last year. Crude oil imports from Russia, on the other hand, fell 7.7% in the first 10 months of this year.

At the same time, refinery runs in the country increased in October, indicating that refiners tapped oil in storage, according to Reuters columnist Clyde Russell. Refinery runs have been higher than the combined quantity of domestic production and oil imports on five occasions in the last seven months, according to Russell.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, two OPEC+ members, are competitors for the Chinese market, as China is one of the world’s largest users and importers of petroleum. In this regard, they compete with Iran, for which China has acted as a lifeline by continuing to acquire Iranian crude despite US sanctions.

However, due to the government’s assault on independent refiners, China’s October total fell to a three-year low. Aside from environmental and tax evasion probes, Beijing has imposed lower oil import and fuel export limitations on private refiners.