April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the fourth- largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, wants to increase crude oil exports to China to 100,000 barrels a day this year, a company official said.

Kuwait Petroleum is in talks to invest in the second phase of the 17.7 billion-yuan ($2.5 billion) refinery that Sinochem Corp., China's biggest chemical trader, is building in Fujian province, Fahad al-Shatti, a Beijing-based sales representative, told reporters in a conference today in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

China bought 976,000 metric tons of Kuwaiti crude in the first quarter, or 2.2 percent of the 45.5 million metric tons of the nation's crude imports during the period, according to data from Beijing-based Customs General Administration April 22.

Kuwait wants to be among the top five oil suppliers to the world's fastest-growing economy in three years, al-Shatti said. Kuwait is China's 12th-largest crude supplier, according to customs data.

Sinochem signed an accord to import crude oil from Kuwait for the 12 million ton-a-year Fujian refinery in the southern province, President Liu Deshu said March 5. The plant in Meizhou Bay will process 5 million tons of heavy crude oil during the first phase in 2009, Liu said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Winnie Zhu in Shanghai at wzhu4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 24, 2008 02:13 EDT