February was the first month to reflect the full scale of the cuts in China's imports of Iranian oil after top refiner Sinopec Corp. decided in December to chop purchases in an attempt to force Iranians to back off from the tougher terms they had proposed for the 2012 contract.
The February imports at about 290,000 barrels per day are about half of December's 572,800 bpd, 41 percent less than the January level and down 40 percent from February 2011, data from China General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday, largely matching earlier Reuters reports.
The sharp drop in Chinese imports adds to trade pressures on Iran stemming from US and European Union sanctions over its nuclear enrichment program.
The United States on Tuesday exempted Japan and 10 EU nations from financial sanctions, because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian crude. But it left Iran's top customers China and India exposed to the possibility of such steps.
The 491,000 bpd level recorded for January factored in a small part of the planned cuts because of the delay due to the roughly three-week tanker voyage between Iran and Chinese ports.
Under an annual contract that concluded in late February after nearly three months of talks, China will buy 10 to 15 percent less crude from Iran this year versus 2011, with the cuts mostly already made in the first three months, a Beijing-based Chinese oil executive with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
The sharp scale-back in February knocked Iran's ranking to China's seventh-biggest supplier from third-biggest last year.
China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, is Iran's largest trading partner and biggest oil client, buying up to 20 percent of Iran's total crude exports.
China has been scouring the world for crude to make up for the lost Iranian oil. Its extra imports in February from Saudi Arabia, other Middle East countries and Russia more than offset the loss of imports from Iran, the data showed.
Imports from Iraq jumped 135 percent year-on-year to 473,634 bpd and were up 26 percent from the level of imports in January, the data showed.
Crude imports from other Gulf countries also rallied, with those from Kuwait up nearly 50 percent on the year to 242,092 bpd and from United Arab Emirates up 45 percent to 195,707 bpd.
Imports from Russia were 602,714 bpd in February, 3.6 percent higher than in January and 52 percent higher versus February 2011.
Crude imports from Sudan, however, fell nearly 60 percent from a year earlier to 164,238 bpd, the data showed, after South Sudan in January stopped production in a row over transit fees with Sudan.
