According to Reuters report that state oil giant Saudi Aramco has signed a contract with Chinese oil refiner North Huajin Chemical Industries Group Corp to supply crude in 2017. The contract, the first between Aramco and Huajin, comes as Saudi Arabia attempts to regain its status as the top crude supplier to China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, this year after losing the top spot to Russia in 2016. Saudi Aramco will supply Arab Extra Light crude to Huajin to enable the Chinese state-controlled refiner to produce more naphtha for its petrochemical production. Huajin is a unit of China's military group NORINCO. Top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia has been exploring new ways to sell more crude to China by offering spot cargoes and providing better credit terms. Saudi Aramco could also start supplying crude to the Huizhou refinery owned by China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) after an expansion that is expected to finish in 2Q17. Huajin operates a crude oil refinery in Panjin in Liaoning province with a processing capacity of 6 mta and a petrochemical plant in Panjin that produces 700 kta of ethylene. The company also has fertilizer plants in the Inner Mongolia region and in the Xinjiang region.