Natural gas imports reached 131.69 million tonnes in 2024, the data from the General Administration of Customs shows.
The world’s largest LNG importer paid about $64.3 billion for these gas imports, up 1.2 percent compared to 2023.
Natural gas imports during December reached about 11.55 million tonnes, down 8.6 percent compared to 12.64 million tonnes in December 2023, the data shows.
Gas imports rose compared to 10.79 million tonnes in the month before, which marked a drop of 1.4 percent year-on-year.
China paid about $5.9 billion for gas imports in December.
China’s LNG imports
There is no official data for China’s LNG imports in December.
China reported a drop in its LNG imports in November.
The country received 6.15 million tonnes in November, down 8.7 percent year-on-year.
During January-November, China imported 69.61 million tonnes of LNG, a rise of 10.7 percent year over year.
This also compares to 71.36 million tonnes China imported during January-November in 2021, which was a record year for China’s LNG imports with 78.93 million tonnes.
China’s LNG imports rose 12.6 percent in 2023, overtaking Japan as the world’s largest LNG importer.
The country received about 71.32 million tonnes in 2023.
China remained the world’s largest LNG importer in 2024.
Japan imported some 10 million tonnes of LNG less than China during January-November last year.
