Local customs data showed China's crude oil imports from Malaysia, its third largest supplier, rose 17.5% in September compared to the same month last year.
Imports from Malaysia, the main transshipment hub for permitted oil from Iran and Venezuela were 6.12 million metric tons last month or 1.49 million barrels per day.
That was up from 1.77 million barrels per day in August.
For the first nine months of this year, imports from Malaysia increased 22% from the same period in 2023 to 49.29 million tonnes.
China's independent refiners have for the past several years relied on discounted supplies from Iran, Russia and Venezuela to weather a widespread economic recession and sluggish fuel demand that has cut into refining profits.
Imports from Saudi Arabia, China's second largest supplier, rose 13% in September to 7.43 million tonnes or 1.81 million barrels per day.
Additionally, volumes from Russia for the year to September rose 1.1% while those from Saudi Arabia declined 10.8% as refiners gravitated to cheaper Russian supplies to offset thinning processing margins.
