China has surpassed Japan, becoming world’s biggest importer of natural gas

Beijing. June 26. Silkroadnews - According to the data by China’s General Administration of Customs, China became the world’s biggest importer of natural gas in May, having surpassed Japan for the first time, Ecns.cn reports.
According to the Chinese customs, last month, 7.41 million tonnes of natural gas was imported via ocean tankers and pipelines, so total imports in 2018 amounted to 34.9 million tonnes.
For comparison, the data of the Japanese Ministry of Finance show that Japanese imports for the first five months of the year were slightly behind, at 34.5 million metric tonnes.
China seeks to increase the use of natural gas as a part of its fight against air pollution, a nationwide cut in the use of coal and other energy-polluting energy resources.
In December, the demand for natural gas in China raised as exports from the east coast of Australia hit the record levels, while the U.S., for the first time since 1957, became a net exporter of natural gas, also benefiting from peak demand in China.
Most of China’s natural gas imports is transported in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG), while customs data show that 4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas were imported using ocean tankers in May, compared to 3.27 million tonnes imported using the pipeline.
In the first four months of the year, the total volume of LNG imports amounted to 15.75 million tonnes, which is 58.3% up year on year.
The import of natural gas from Russia is likely to grow in the coming years, the construction of the Eastern Route Gas Pipeline is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019. The gas pipeline will become a part of a project capable of transporting another 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to China.