Crude oil production slightly down in May

BEIJING - China's crude oil production declined 1.3 percent year-on-year to 17.03 million tons, while crude oil imports rose 0.9 percent to 20.82 million tons last month, the country's top economic planner said Saturday.

In the first five months of this year, crude oil production totaled 83.58 million tons, down 1.4 percent from the same period last year, while crude oil imports grew 3.5 percent to 109.18 million tons, data from the National Development and Reform Commission showed.

In May alone, Chinese oil producers refined 34.2 million tons of crude oil, down 1.8 percent year on year, but oil product output climbed 1.4 percent to 21.3 million tons, said the NDRC.

Meanwhile, the country's apparent consumption of refined oil increased 4 percent to 20.93 million tons, among which diesel consumption was up 3.9 percent to 13.22 million tons.

China has cut the per-ton retail prices of gasoline and diesel twice in the past two months in the wake of falling crude oil prices in the global market, as a weak economic outlook for the eurozone and the United States sparked fears of decline in global oil demand.