China November Gas Import Hits Record, Up 42% on Year

China reported its highest ever gas import (LNG and pipeline equivalent) in November as demand for the commodity expanded given the government’s push toward a switch from coal to natural gas.

According to the latest data released by country’s statistics bureau December 8, Asia’s biggest economy imported a record 6.55mn metric tons of gas last month, up 41.77% year on year. Previous monthly record gas import was in December 2016 at 6.1mn mt.

During the January-November period, the accumulated import of natural gas was 60.70mn mt, up 26.5% year on year. These figures are already higher than the total imports in the whole of 2016 (54mn mt).