China's crude oil production increased in August, marking the first time the output went up in almost three years, according to official figures released on Friday.
Last month, the country produced 16 million tons of crude oil, up 0.2 percent from the same month in 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The increase in August also marks the first increase on an annual basis since October 2015, the bureau added.
The amount of crude oil production from Jan to Aug, on the other hand, was down 1.8 percent compared to the same period last year, standing at 125.95 million tons.
Crude oil imports continued to increase, according to the data. In August, imports hit 38.38 million tons, an increase of 2.36 million tons compared to July, and 12.9 percent year-on-year. Imports in the first eight months of the year were also up, increasing by 6.5 percent year-on-year, and hitting 299.19 million tons.
-Coal production, imports up
In August, coal production stood at 3 million tons, up 4.2 percent on an annual basis, after falling 2 percent in July. Average daily production hit 957 million tons, an increase of 49 million tons. From January to August, the output of raw coal was 2.28 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent.
Last month, coal imports were 28.68 million tons, a slight decrease of 330,000 tons from the previous month, but still maintained a high level, rising by 13.5 percent year-on-year, the NBS said.
Imports in the first eight months, on the other hand, reached 200 million tons, up 14.7 percent on an annual basis.
-Gas output, imports also up
According to the statistics, last month, China produced 12.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas, up 9.7 percent year-on-year. The production between January and August also increased to reach 104 billion cubic meters, up 5.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
Gas imports continued to grow at a high rate, the bureau said. In August, natural gas imports hit 7.77 million tons, marking a 37.3 percent increase year-on-year, while the country imported 57.18 million tons of gas in the first eight months of the year, an annual increase of 34.8 percent.
-Power production up except for wind
In August, the power generation capacity was 640.49 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent. The growth rate was 1.6 percentage points higher than that of the previous month, the NBS said, adding the average daily power generation was 20.66 billion kWh, marking a new high.
From January to August, power generation increased by 7.7 percent compared to the same period last year. According to the report, thermal power was up 6 percent in August compared to the same month last year, while hydropower rose 11.5 percent.
Nuclear and solar power generations were also up, increasing by 16.9 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively.
Wind power, on the other hand, diminished last month due to extreme climatic factors including strong typhoons and heavy rainfall with the growth rate dropping 24.1 percentage points from the month of July. It was up just 0.6 percent on an annual basis.
(Anadolu Agency)
