China’s June LNG imports surge

China, the world’s largest energy consumer, boosted its imports of liquefied natural gas by 29.2 percent in June.

LNG imports totalled 5.79 million tonnes last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.

In the January-June period, the country imported 31.18 million tonnes of chilled fuel, a year-on-year rise of 10.2 percent.

On the other side, China’s pipeline gas imports dropped 15 percent to 2.54 million tonnes.

In the six-month period, piped imports reached 17.18 million tonnes, down 7.4 percent, the data shows.

China is currently the world’s second-largest importer of LNG behind Japan but this could change this year.

Japan’s January-June LNG imports dropped 5.7 percent to 36.40 million tonnes as the Covid-19 pandemic stopped economic activity.