Aluminum output

THE country’s annual aluminum production fell for the first time in 10 years in 2019, official data showed Friday, hit by softer demand amid the Sino-U.S. trade row and large-scale smelter outages.

Aluminum output dropped to 35.04 million tons last year, down 0.9 percent from record levels a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported. China’s full-year aluminum output last fell in 2009, according to annual data on the NBS website. China’s annual aluminum consumption was set to fall for the first time in 30 years in 2019, research house Antaike said in November.

Natural gas

NATURAL gas consumption in China will continue to increase in 2020 amid the country’s efforts to tackle air pollution, said PetroChina, China’s largest oil and gas producer.

Consumption of natural gas is estimated to expand 8.6 percent to 330 billion cubic meters in 2020, the company’s research report showed. Natural gas production will go up 8.2 percent to 187.5 billion cubic meters in 2020, while imports are expected to climb 9.3 percent to 150 billion cubic meters. According to a three-year action plan on air pollution control released in 2018, China will boost the share of natural gas in its total primary energy consumption to 10 percent by 2020.

Crude output

THE country’s crude oil output grew 0.8 percent year on year to 190 million tons last year, snapping the declining trend since 2016, official data showed.

The country’s crude oil output came in at 16.06 million tons in December 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. As one of the world’s largest oil buyers, the country imported 510 million tons of crude oil in 2019, rising 9.5 percent year on year. China aims to increase its annual domestic crude oil output to more than 200 million tons by 2020.