China’s natural gas imports, including pipeline gas and LNG, decreased by 2.8 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to customs data.
Data from the General Administration of Customs indicate that natural gas imports reached 127.87 million tonnes in 2025.
This compares to 131.61 million tonnes in 2024, which rose 9.9 percent year-on-year.
China paid approximately $56.7 billion for these imports, down 13 percent year-on-year.
In December 2025, China’s natural gas imports stood at 13.45 million tonnes.
This marks a 16.3 percent increase compared to December 2024.
Natural gas imports in December also increased compared to 11.94 million tonnes in November, which was up 10.7 percent year-on-year.
In addition, the December figure was the largest monthly quantity of natural gas China imported in 2025.
Official data on LNG imports for December last year has not yet been released.
During January-November last year, China imported 60 million tonnes of LNG, a 13.7 percent decrease compared with the same period last year.
Despite lower volumes, China will remain the world’s largest LNG importer.
The country imported approximately 1.53 million tonnes of LNG more than Japan during the eleven-month period.
