China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, increased in May compared to the same month last year, according to customs data.
Natural gas imports during the last month reached about 11.33 million tonnes, rising 6.5 percent compared to some 10.64 million tonnes in May 2023, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.
China paid about $5.42 billion for gas imports last month.
During January-May, China’s gas imports reached 54.27 million tonnes, a rise of 17.4 percent year-on-year.
The world’s largest LNG importer paid about $26.7 billion for gas imports in January-May, down 0.7 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
There is currently no official data for LNG imports in May.
China’s LNG imports increased by 22.7 percent to 25.91 million tonnes in January-April.
In January this year, China’s LNG import terminals took 7.25 million tonnes of LNG, up by 22.9 percent year-on-year, in February LNG imports rose by 15.2 percent to 5.95 million tonnes, while in March LNG imports increased by 25.1 percent to 6.65 million tonnes, customs data previously showed.
In April, the country received 6.22 million tonnes of LNG, up by 31.5 percent year-on-year.
China’s LNG imports rose 12.6 percent in 2023, and the country overtook Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer.
The country received about 71.32 million tonnes in the January-December period last year.
