China's Natural Gas Imports Rose by 14% in First Half of 2024

China’s imports of natural gas, including via pipeline and LNG cargoes, increased by 14.3% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period of last year. 

China imported 64.65 million tons of natural gas in the first six months of 2024, LNG Prime reported on Friday, citing data from China’s General Administration of Customs.  

The Chinese import bill for the first half fell by 0.8% to $31.7 billion, the data showed, as LNG prices were lower than year-ago levels early this year. 

Chinese imports of natural gas inched up by just 0.4% in June 2024 compared to the same month last year.  

China boosted its natural gas imports in the period January to April, as it looked to stockpile fuel for the power plants ahead of the summer amid international prices that were half last year’s levels in the first four months of 2024. Chinese imports of natural gas were estimated to have jumped by 21% between January and April compared to a year earlier.  

The Asian benchmark LNG prices averaged a little over $9 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in the first quarter of 2024, compared to an average LNG price for delivery into north Asia of $18 per MMBtu in the first quarter of last year, per Bloomberg’s estimates. 

However, spot LNG prices for delivery to North Asia increased in the late spring and early summer and have topped $12/MMBtu in recent weeks, which resulted in a decline in Chinese spot demand, analysts told Reuters last week. 

China could beat its 2021 all-time high of LNG imports this year, as industrial and commercial sectors are set to drive demand for the super-chilled fuel, an official at state-held energy giant PetroChina said in May.   

Chinese LNG imports hit a record high of 78.8 million metric tons in 2021. The following year saw the first decline in LNG imports as prices soared in the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Last year, China imported around 71.2 million metric tons of LNG.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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