Official: China’s oil production will record 3.8 million barrels per day in 2020

“China’s production of crude oil will reach 194 million tons, equivalent to 3.87 million barrels in 2020,” Xinhua news agency quoted the director of the National Energy Administration as saying.

This means production rose for the second year in a row, and an increase of 1.6 percent from the 191.01 million tons China produced in 2019, making it the highest annual production since 2016, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The increase follows a jump in production from the Changqing and Tarim onshore fields and Bohai Bay, said Zhang Jianhua, director of the China Energy Administration.

China is the world’s largest energy consumer, and was the sixth largest oil producer in 2019, according to the International Energy Agency.

Meanwhile, the official agency quoted Zhang as saying at a conference, “China is about to produce more than 186 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year,” an increase of no less than 7.1 percent compared to 2019.

Zhang said that China will expand its storage of natural gas underground next year, by constructing storage complexes in the north, northeast, northwest and southwest.

These statements coincide with concerns about fuel demand during the winter months.

Source: Reuters

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