China's crude oil import via Alataw Pass on Sino-Kazakhstan border, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, reached a record high of 1.48 million tons last year, according to local customs.

Tariffs worth 526 million yuan (some US$63.37 million) were levied from the imported crude oil, worth 413 million US dollars, in the past year, both records high.

Industry experts attributed the abrupt increase to an increase in the quotas allotted to the Sino-Kazakhstani border port and the soaring demand for oil in China.

Located on the China-Kazakhstan border, the Alataw Pass is the only railway and highway port in China's northwestern region. It can handle 10 million tons of cargo a year.  The pass has also been chosen as one hub of the China-Kazakhstan oil pipeline which links Atasu in Kazakhstan with the Alataw Pass.

Currently, most of the oil imported at the pass is from Kazakhstan and Russia.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2005)