China's oil imports posted double-digit growth in the first five months of 2008 as global crude prices more than doubled from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

The country imported 75.97 million tons of crude oil, up 12.7 percent from a year earlier, with average prices rising 64.1 percent to US$689.9 per ton.

Imports of oil products jumped 17.3 percent to 17.34 million tons. Prices soared 66.9 percent to average US$709.6 per ton.

Analysts said booming domestic demand, notably from the severe winter and quake reconstruction, fueled imports.

Crude oil exports totaled 950,000 tons, valued at US$570 million, while exports of refined oil stood at 6.48 million tons worth US$4.85 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2008)