Oil refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, expects to import 10 million metric tons of crude oil from the U.S. in 2018, China Daily reported Feb. 27.

Sinopec imported 5.57 million tons of crude oil from the U.S. in 2017 through its trading unit, China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co. Ltd. This accounted for 10% of the U.S.'s total crude oil exports in 2017, making the company the top U.S. crude oil importer in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Demand for imported oil is likely to continue to rise unless we see very significant growth in technologies such as electric motors and electric storage, which may be able to replace the need for oil, especially in the transport sector," Sebastian Lewis, head of content for S&P Global Platts in China told the paper.

Customs data show China has surpassed the U.S. to become the world's largest importer of crude oil as its crude oil imports reached 420 million tons in 2017, China Daily reported.

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