China's crude oil imports from Russia surged 52.4 percent in April from a year earlier to reach a record 1.17 million barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Monday, ahead of the previous record of 1.13 million bpd in December.

China is Russia’s biggest single trade partner, with its share rising to 12.8 percent from 12 percent in 2015. Even so, the overall turnover of goods fell by 26 percent last year to $68.1 billion. That means the countries are far off reaching their target of $100 billion in trade.

China consumed about 10.62 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in April, a record daily consumption volume, according to Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data published on Friday.

Reform of sprawling state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to improve efficiency is a priority for China's leaders as growth slows in the world's second biggest economy, and was a key plank of the country's latest five-year plan agreed in 2015.

Rising incomes in China, India, and other emerging Asia economies are a key driver of the global energy outlook. Developing Asia accounts for more than half of the projected increase in global energy use through 2040. This increase will have a profound effect on the development of world energy markets. Clean energy technologies play an important role in the outlook, with renewables expected to be the fastest-growing energy source.

On Friday, however, Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank signed two 15-year loans, for €9.34bn ($10.7bn) and Rmb9.76bn ($1.5bn) on Friday, according to regulatory statements from Yamal LNG.

China’s falling oil output and sliding U.S. production may help rebalance a market struggling to recover from the worst price crash in a generation

China and Japan dispute sovereignty over a group of uninhabited East China Sea islets, while in the South China Sea, Beijing is building islands on reefs to bolster its claims.

Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGaz, which owns the largest stake in the project, has said previously that the field would relaunch by the end of 2016.

The world’s biggest energy user increased inbound shipments to 91.1 million metric tons in the first three months of the year, data from the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. That’s equivalent to about 7.34 million barrels a day, 6 percent higher than the previous quarter and 13 percent up from the same period last year. Imports last month fell about 4 percent from February’s record to 7.71 million barrels a day, the third-highest ever.