China's crude production nears 170m tons in Jan-Oct

BEIJING - Crude oil production in China rose 0.7 percent year-on-year to 169.56 million tons in the first ten months of 2012, the country's top economic planning agency said Sunday.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission, crude oil output hit 17.82 million tons in October, marking a year-on-year increase of 7.9 percent.

Apparent consumption of crude oil rose 3 percent year-on-year to 207.8 million tons during the January-October period, the commission said.

The country used 20.93 million tons of crude oil in October, down 1.3 percent from the previous year, according to the commission.

China processed 341.37 million tons of crude oil during the first ten months, slightly up 1.3 percent year-on-year.

Data also showed gasoline consumption climbed 7 percent year-on-year during the period, while diesel consumption edged up 0.5 percent.