Energy production in September of 2020

In September, the decline rate of raw coal production for industries above designated size was slightly expanded, crude oil production was stable, natural gas production was accelerated, and electric power production was slowed down.

I. Raw Coal, Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production and Relevant Information

Raw coal production decreased slightly. In September, the production of raw coal was 330 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9 percent, the decline rate expanded 0.8 percentage point over the previous month; the average daily output was 11.04 million tons, with an increase of 530 thousand tons on a month on month basis. From January to September, raw coal was produced 2.79 billion tons, down 0.1 percent year on year.

The decline of coal import continued to expand. In September, the import of coal was 18.68 million tons, a month on month decrease of 1.98 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 38.3 percent, the decline rate expanded 1.0 percentage point over the previous month; from January to September, the import of coal was 240 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 4.4 percent.

The comprehensive trading price of port coal rose. On October 9, the coal prices of 5500, 5000 and 4500 kcal at Qinhuangdao Port were 578, 524 and 466 yuan per ton respectively, which were 29, 29 and 27 yuan higher than those on September 4.

Crude oil production was stable, and the growth rate of processing fell. In September, 16.1 million tons of crude oil were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 2.4 percent, 0.1 percentage point faster than that of the previous month; 57.35 million tons of crude oil were processed, an increase of 1.3 percent, a decrease of 7.9 percentage points over the previous month. From January to September, 146.25 million tons of crude oil were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 1.7 percent; and 500 million tons of crude oil were processed, with a year-on-year increase of 2.9 percent.

The growth rate of crude oil import accelerated, and the international crude oil price fell. In September, imports of crude oil reached 48.48 million tons, up 17.6 percent year-on-year, 5.0 percentage points faster than last month. From January to September, 420 million tons of crude oil were imported, up 12.7 percent year on year. On September 30, the spot FOB price of Brent crude oil was 40.30 USD per barrel, down 10.9 percent from 45.22 USD per barrel on August 28.

Natural gas production has been accelerated. In September, 14.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent, 3.9 percentage points faster than that of the previous month; the average daily output was 490 million cubic meters, an increase of 30 million cubic meters on a month on month basis. From January to September, 137.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 8.7 percent.

The growth rate of natural gas import fell. In September, 8.66 million tons of natural gas were imported, up 5.5 percent year-on-year, and the growth rate was 7.7 percentage points lower than that of the previous month. From January to September, 73.73 million tons of natural gas were imported, up 3.7 percent year on year.

II. Electric Power Production

The growth rate of electric power production has slowed down. In September, the power generation was 631.5 billion kwh, an increase of 5.3 percent year-on-year, and the growth rate was 1.5 percentage points lower than that of the previous month; the average daily power generation was 21.05 billion kwh, a decrease of 2.3 billion kwh on a month on month basis. From January to September, the power generation was 5,408.6 billion kwh, an increase of 0.9 percent over the same period of last year.

In terms of varieties, in September, the growth rate of thermal power and wind power decreased, while that of hydropower, nuclear power and solar energy increased. Among them, thermal power increased by 0.2 percent year-on-year, 6.0 percentage points lower than that of last month; wind power increased by 11.3 percent, down 7.4 percentage points; hydropower increased by 22.8 percent, accelerated by 13.9 percentage points; nuclear power increased by 7.4 percent, accelerated by 6.5 percentage points; solar power increased by 4.0 percent, accelerated by 1.9 percentage points.

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes

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. Data Source

Import data comes from the General Administration of Customs, of which January and February data are 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.