China’s LNG imports surged in November as the world’s largest energy consumer prepared for the start of the heating season.
LNG imports totaled 6.61 million tonnes last month, rising 2.4 percent from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
In the January-November period, China imported 59.54 million tonnes of chilled fuel, cementing its position as the world’s second-largest LNG importer, after Japan.
This marked a year-on-year rise of 10.7 percent when compared to the same period in 2019.
Furhermore, China’s pipeline gas imports dropped by 13 percent to 2.56 million tonnes.
These imports declined by 7.1 percent in the January-November period reaching 30.90 million tonnes.
November marked another month when China overtook Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer taking about 0.6 million tonnes more than Japan.
To remind, Japan’s LNG imports dropped for the second straight month in November to 6.01 million tonnes.
However, Japan will certainly retain the title of the world’s largest LNG importer this year but 2021 could witness switching positions between the two.