Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia produced around 9.87 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in January, about 70,000 bpd more than it pumped in December, an industry source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Demand continues to remain strong from Asia," said the industry source.

China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer has been  drawing heavily on Saudi Arabia as it scours the globe for alternative oil supplies to replace a fall in its imports from Iran.

Out of the 9.87 million bpd of production, around 9.4 million bpd was supplied to the market, the source said.

With the kingdom’s domestic oil demand around 2 million bpd in January, this would leave exports of around 7.4 million bpd  last month.

In December, Saudi Arabia produced around 9.80 million bpd, of which around 7.50 million was exported. In November, it pumped 10.05 million bpd and exported 7.80 million bpd,  according to Saudi government data.