China's August Iranian crude oil import rose sharply from a year earlier, although purchases were down from the previous month and off year-ago levels for the first eight months of 2015, official customs data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. China, Iran's top oil client, imported 503,110 barrels per day from the Persian Gulf country last month, up 61% from a year ago. But that was down 12.6% from July's 575,700 bpd, itself down nearly 100,000 bpd from June. Iran, once OPEC's second biggest producer after Saudi Arabia, hopes to raise crude exports by as much as 1 million bpd within months once sanctions are lifted in 2016. For the first eight months of the year, China brought in nearly 576,670 bpd of Iranian oil, down 0.34% year-on-year, the customs data showed. The volume is lower than the contracted amount of about 600,000 bpd as one regular buyer has been out of the market.
