Energy production in December 2019

In December, the production of industrial raw coal and electric power above designated size slowed down, crude oil production fell, and natural gas production was stable. In 2019, the output of industrial raw coal above designated size increased steadily, the growth rate of crude oil production changed from negative to positive, natural gas maintained rapid growth, and power production slowed down.

1. Raw Coal Production Slowed Down and Coal Import Decreased

In December, the output of raw coal was 330 million tons, up 2.4 percent year-on-year, 2.1 percentage points lower than that of last month; the average daily output was 10.7 million tons, down 440 thousand tons month on month.

The structural reform on the supply side of the coal industry continued to advance, and the high-quality coal production capacity continued to be released. In 2019, the output of raw coal reached 3.75 billion tons, an increase of 4.2 percent over the previous year.

In December, coal imports fell 72.9 percent year on year. In 2019, 300 million tons of coal were imported, an increase of 6.3 percent over the previous year.

Coal prices fell. On December 27, the comprehensive transaction prices of 5500, 5000 and 4500 kcal coal in Qinhuangdao Port were 549, 493 and 443 yuan per ton, respectively, down 8, 6 and 5 yuan from November 29.

2. Crude Oil Production Fell and Imports Remained High

In December, crude oil output was 16.06 million tons, down 1.9 percent year on year, and up 0.9 percent in last month; daily average output was 518 thousand tons, down 5000 tons month on month. In 2019, the steady production and production increase trend of major domestic oil fields was good, with crude oil output of 190 million tons, an increase of 0.8 percent over the previous year, reversing the continuous decline since 2016.

In December, 45.48 million tons of crude oil were imported, up 3.9 percent year on year. In 2019, 510 million tons of crude oil were imported, an increase of 9.5 percent over the previous year.

Crude oil prices continued to rise. On December 31, the spot FOB price of Brent crude oil was 67.7 US dollars per barrel, an increase of 3.3 US dollars from November 29..

3. The Speed of Crude Oil Processing Accelerated

In December, the crude oil processing volume was 58.51 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent, 3.5 percentage points higher than last month; the average daily processing volume was 1.887 million tons, an increase of 18 thousand tons month on month. In 2019, affected by the continuous release of new refining capacity, the crude oil processing volume continued to grow rapidly, processing 650 million tons of crude oil, an increase of 7.6 percent over the previous year.

4. Natural Gas Production Was Stable and Import Volume Continued to Increase

In December, the output of natural gas was 16 billion cubic meters, up 7.5 percent year-on-year, 0.5 percentage point lower than that of last month; the daily output was 520 million cubic meters, an increase of 20 million cubic meters month on month. In 2019, the output of natural gas was 173.6 billion cubic meters, an increase of 9.8 percent over the previous year.

In December, 9.51 million tons of natural gas were imported, up 3.1 percent year on year. In 2019, 96.56 million tons of natural gas were imported, an increase of 6.9 percent over the previous year.

5. Power Production Growth Slowed Down Slightly

In December, the power generation was 654.4 billion kwh, a year-on-year increase of 3.5 percent, 0.5 percentage point lower than that of last month; the average daily power generation was 21.11 billion kwh, a month on month increase of 1.48 billion kwh. In 2019, the generating capacity was 7,142.2 billion kwh, an increase of 3.5 percent over the previous year.

In terms of varieties, thermal power and nuclear power dropped slightly in December, wind power dropped significantly, solar power accelerated, and hydropower continued to grow negatively. Among them, thermal power increased by 4.0 percent year-on-year, 0.4 percentage point lower than last month; nuclear power rose by 14.0 percent, 0.9 percentage point lower; wind power rose by 0.7 percent, 20.0 percentage points lower; solar power rose by 15.2 percent, 12.5 percentage points faster; hydropower fell 4.4 percent, a decrease of 2.0 percentage points lower.

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes

Raw coal: refers to the raw coal produced by a coal mine that has been checked and accepted and meets the quality standards. That is to say, gangue with specified size (including pyrite and other impurities) is selected from coal and the absolute dry ash content of raw coal is less than 40 percent. Although the absolute dry ash content is over 40 percent, the inferior coal which has been mined with the approval of the relevant departments and has consumption demand should also be included in the output of raw coal. Raw coal is divided into anthracite, bituminous coal and lignite. In bituminous coal, it is divided into coking bituminous coal and general bituminous coal. Raw coal does not include stone coal, peat (peat) and gangue mined with the production process of raw coal.

Average daily product output: It is calculated by dividing the total output of Industrial Enterprises above the designated size announced in that month by the calendar days of that month.

2. Statistical Coverage       

The statistical caliber of the output data in the report is above the designated size of industry, and the statistical scope is industrial enterprises with annual main business income of more than 20 million yuan.

Because the scope of Industrial Enterprises above the designated size changes every year, in order to ensure that this year's data is comparable with the previous year's, the same period used to calculate the growth rate of various indicators such as product output is consistent with the statistical scope of enterprises in this period, and there is a caliber difference between the data released last year.

3. Survey Methods

Import data comes from the General Administration of Customs, of which August data is express data; coal price data comes from China Coal Market Network; crude oil price data comes from the United States Energy Information Agency (EIA).

4. Conversion relationship of natural gas units: 1 ton is equal to 1380 cubic meters.