China's Gas Imports via Xinjiang Region Registers 15% Growth

Imports of natural gas into China from central Asia through the Xinjiang Region have seen a substantial jump during the January-August period, CNPC said October 9 in a report posted on its website citing data from the customs department, which measures gas in metric tons of LNG.

During the eight months of 2016, more than 16.75mn mt (22bn m³) of natural gas were imported through Xinjiang, up 15.58% on year. Trade volume was yuan 28.2bn (4.5bn). More than 80% of gas came from Turkmenistan while the rest was supplied by Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Little over 99% of the fuel came via pipeline while the rest came by road and rail transport.

The China-Central Asia gas pipeline became operational in 2009 and it has transported 108mn mt of gas as of end-July.

Shardul Sharma