China May Gas Output Up 6% on Year
China’s natural gas production during May was 12.62bn m3, up 6% year on year, according to statistics bureau data released June 14. However, production was down month on month. In April, China produced 12.9bn m3 of natural gas.
During January-May, production was 65.24bn m3, a year on year increase of 4.3%. Chinese state-owned explorers have ramped up output to meet strong domestic demand. Last year, China's natural gas production was 147.42bn m³, up 8.5% year-on-year, according to statistics bureau data.
Strong demand has not only resulted in higher domestic output, but gas imports have also seen a sharp surge. China’s gas imports have been trending higher since the start of 2017. Last year, Chinese gas imports totalled 68.57mn mt LNG equivalent, up 27% year on year, with the increase most pronounced in the last quarter when it was around 40% up year on year.
Gas imports have continued to be higher this year as well. China imported 7.41mn mt natural gas (pipeline and LNG) in May, up about 37% year on year, customs data showed June 8. In the first five months of 2018, China imported about 34.8mn mt of gas, compared with 26mn mt in the same period of 2017.