China posts rising crude oil output in first four months

BEIJING - China's crude oil output edged up 0.6 percent year-on-year to 63.06 million tonnes in the first four months, according to official data.

In April alone, the crude oil output rose 0.6 percent year-on-year to 15.71 million tonnes, with the growth rate down 1.5 percentage points from March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

Meanwhile, China's crude oil imports expanded faster last month, surging 10.8 percent from the same period of previous year to 43.73 million tonnes.

The amount of processed crude oil saw a 5.1 percent increase year-on-year in April, with a daily average processing volume of 1.74 million tonnes.

China aims to increase domestic crude oil output to 200 million tonnes by 2020. Major tasks for the oil industry include accelerating exploration to ensure domestic oil supply, speeding up construction of pipeline networks and developing clean alternatives.

NBS data also showed China's natural gas output rose at a slower pace in April, climbing 7.9 percent year-on-year to 14.1 billion cubic meters.

Imports of natural gas came in at 7.65 million tonnes last month, with an increase of 12.2 percent from a year earlier.