China's natural gas output rose in December to the highest monthly rate since at least 2014 as state energy firms rushed to fill a supply gap sparked by surging winter demand from a drive to switch millions of households to gas from coal for heating. Companies produced 13.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in December, up from 12.6 bcm in November, pushing up output for the whole of 2017 by 8.5 percent to 147.4 bcm, data from the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) showed on Thursday.
Beijing last year ordered millions of households and industrial plants in 28 northern Chinese cities to change to gas heating from coal as part of its war against pollution. But the jump in demand and inadequate storage and pipeline networks led to a severe supply crunch. State energy majors maximized December production at key gas fields such as Changqing in the country's west and Fuling in southwestern Sichuan, while scaling back internal gas use.
Sinopec this month said its 2017 gas output had risen 19 percent over 2016, after it started up 13 new wells. Domestic wholesale prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which are not regulated by the government, hit an all-time high in late December near 10,000 yuan ($1,554) per tonne in northern China. But prices have since dropped more than 40 percent thanks to stronger domestic production, as well as record imports of both pipeline gas and LNG.
The NSB also said China's oil refinery throughput rose 3.3 percent in December from a year earlier to 49.11 million tonnes, or 11.56 million bpd, off a record of 12.03 million bpd in November. Refinery production for the full year gained 5 percent to 567.77 million tonnes, or 11.36 million bpd.
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