The steep drop in China's LNG imports in Q1 (see main story) was in large part driven by a rise in both domestic gas production and overland pipeline imports from Central Asia and Russia.
Pipeline imports rose by 7% year-on-year to 10.5mn tons (14.6 bcm) for Q1 whilst China’s domestic gas output also rose by 7% to hit a quarterly record 56.9bcm, some 60% of domestic consumption (see chart and MEES, 29 April for full data). China is well on track to smash its annual output record of 205bcm set last year, with notable output gains having started in 4Q 2020 even before the oil price recovery was turbocharged. Increased spending also resulted in domestic crude production hit a six-year high 4.15mn b/d for Q1 (MEES, 22 April). (CONTINUED - 409 WORDS)
