BEIJING — China's crude oil output expanded by 1.6 percent year-on-year in 2020, with full-year imports posting a 7.3-percent surge, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The country's crude oil output came in at 195 million metric tons last year, with production in December seeing a 0.9-percent expansion on a yearly basis to reach 16.27 million tons.

As one of the world's largest oil buyers, the country imported 540 million tons of crude oil in 2020, surging 7.3 percent year-on-year.

In December alone imports shrank 15.4 percent from a year earlier to 38.47 million tons, according to the NBS data.

China processed 670 million tons of crude oil last year, up 3 percent from 2019, the data showed.