China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, increased in April compared to the same month last year, according to customs data.
Natural gas imports during the last month reached about 10.29 million tonnes, rising 14.7 percent compared to some 8.97 million tonnes in April 2023, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.
China paid about $4.88 billion for gas imports last month.
During January-April, China’s gas imports reached 43 million tonnes, a rise of 20.7 percent year-on-year.
The world’s largest LNG importer paid about $21.3 billion for gas imports in January-April, down 0.9 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
There is currently no official data for LNG imports in April.
China’s LNG imports increased by 20.8 percent to 19.78 million tonnes in January-March.
In January, China’s LNG import terminals took 7.25 million tonnes of LNG, up by 22.9 percent year-on-year, while in February LNG imports rose 15.2 percent to 5.95 million tonnes.
In March, the country received 6.65 million tonnes of LNG, up by 25.1 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.