Domestic crude oil imports in July fell 3.9 percent from a year earlier to the lowest daily rate in 11 months, customs data showed Thursday, as plant maintenance and an apparent first-half stockbuild curbed purchases.

But the data showed refined fuel imports were near their highest so far this year in July, pointing to firm fuel demand from the world¡¯s second-largest user, which logged double-digit growth through the second quarter.

July crude imports were at 10.64 million tons, or 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), down 3.9 percent from July 2005 and versus 2.87 million bpd in June.

Imports in the first seven months rose 12.9 percent compared with the same period of 2005, to 83.98 million tons, or 2.89 million bpd.

Many analysts had expected imports to ease in the second half as the surge in first-half imports coupled with slowly rising domestic production had far outpaced the growth in officially reported refinery runs, implying that some companies may have been stocking up on crude, analysts have said.

In April Unipec, trading arm of State oil refiner Sinopec, had offered to resell more than 8 million barrels of crude due to swollen stocks. Domestic companies have also cut back purchases of West African crude, often a good indicator of overall imports.

Refinery maintenance also limited demand, with at least two coastal refineries in turnaround last month, including a 70,000-bpd crude unit at Sinopec¡¯s Gaoqiao plant.

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