China is continuing to increase its monthly liquefied natural gas imports and will likely become the world’s largest LNG importer in 2021.
The world’s largest energy consumer imported 6.90 million tonnes of LNG last month, up 5.5 percent when compared to the year before, on the back of high demand from the power generation and industrial sectors, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
LNG imports also rose when compared to the previous month. China received 6.17 million tonnes of LNG in October.
During the January-November period, China imported 71.36 million tonnes of the fuel, the data said. Compared to the same period last year, LNG imports rose by 20.6 percent.
In addition, China’s pipeline gas imports increased by 49.1 percent to 3.82 million tonnes in November.
These imports rose by 24.3 percent in the January-November period reaching about 38.40 million tonnes.
China’s LNG imports hit an all-time high last year rising 11.5 percent when compared to the year before. The country imported 67.13 million tonnes in 2020, cementing its position as the second-largest LNG importer, after Japan.
Boosted by strong demand, China will probably overtake Japan as the world’s top LNG importer this year.
Japan’s LNG imports dropped in November for the third straight month and the country imported about 67.23 million tonnes in the January-November period. This is some 4.13 million tonnes less than China imported during the same period.
Still, Japan’s LNG imports will be probably lower this when year when compared to 74.31 million tonnes in 2021.