China's August Gas Imports Up 37% on Year

China imported 7.77mn metric tons of natural gas (pipeline and LNG) in August, up 37% year on year, customs data showed September 8. Gas imports were up 5.4% month on month.

In the first eight months of 2018, China imported 57.18mn mt of gas, up 34.8% compared with the same period of 2017.

China’s gas imports have been rising since the start of 2017 as the government aggressively implemented the coal to gas switching programme, especially in the northern part of the country. During full year 2017, Chinese gas imports totalled 68.57mn mt, up 27% year on year. That included record Chinese LNG imports of 38.13mn mt, up more than 46%.