CHINA'S GAS CONSUMPTION UP 18%

PLATTS - China consumed 280.30 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2018, up 18.1% year on year, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website late Thursday.

The natural gas consumption growth in 2018 outpaced the growth rate of 15.3% in 2017 and 6.6% in 2016, respectively, according to the NDRC's historical data, implying China's increasing demand for natural gas.

The government's targets to reduce air pollution and move to cleaner burning fuels exemplified by its Blue Sky Policy and the Five-Year Plan will continue to drive the country's gas consumption, S&P Global Platts reported earlier.

NDRC neither provided figures for December 2018, nor provided data on imports and production in 2018.

According to data released by the General Administration of Customs recently, China imported a total 90.39 million mt, or 124.64 Bcm, of natural gas in 2018, up 31.9% year on year.

The volume comprises 53.78 million mt of LNG and 36.61 million mt of pipeline gas, the customs' data showed.

Besides, China produced 161.02 Bcm of natural gas in 2018, up 7.5% year on year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

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Earlier: 

2019, January, 28, 09:55:00 CHINA'S RENEWABLE UP 12% REUTERS - Total capacity - including hydro and biomass as well as solar and wind - rose to 728 gigawatts (GW) by end-2018, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said during a briefing. That amounted to 38.3 percent of China’s total installed power capacity, up 1.7 percentage points on the year and around 7 percentage points higher than at the end of 2015.

2019, January, 25, 08:45:00 RUSSIA'S OIL FOR CHINA UP 19.7% REUTERS - Oil imports from Russia reached 7.04 million tons, or 1.658 million barrels per day, in December, up 40 percent from 5.03 million tons a year earlier, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs. For the full year, Russian oil imports rose to 71.49 million tons, or 1.43 million bpd, up 19.7 percent from 59.7 million tons in 2017.

2019, January, 25, 08:40:00 CHINA'S COAL, RENEWABLE INVESTMENT POWERMAG - China continues to finance new coal plants in more than two dozen countries, even as the country has taken the lead in global renewable energy investment, according to a report from a U.S. group of energy analysts.

2019, January, 25, 08:35:00 CHINA'S SAFE NUCLEAR FUEL WNN - "The new-generation super safe fuel will resist serious accidents and prolong the non-intervention time in case of reactor accidents, greatly reducing the risk of hydrogen explosions and relieving or eliminating the consequences arising from loss of coolant." It added, "It will be used to replace fuel in the nuclear power plants now in operation and help design the fourth generation or even more advanced nuclear power system. In addition, the new fuel will maintain and improve the performance of nuclear power plants."

2019, January, 23, 11:00:00 CHINA'S COAL PRODUCTION UP 5.2% PLATTS - China's annual coal production in 2018 reached 3.55 billion mt, rising 5.2% year on year as the government replaced outdated production capacity with higher-quality coal supply, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

2019, January, 21, 11:45:00 OIL FOR CHINA: 12.05 MBD REUTERS - In December, crude runs rose 4.4 percent from the year before to 51.17 million tonnes, or 12.05 million bpd, hovering near a record of 52.78 million tonnes racked up in October.

2019, January, 21, 11:40:00 CHINA'S GDP GROWTH 6.6% PLATTS - China's National Bureau of Statistics on Monday said the country's gross domestic product grew 6.6% year on year in 2018, the slowest pace of growth seen since 1990.