Energy production in October of 2020

In October, the production of raw coal for industries above designated size increased from decrease to increase, natural gas production accelerated, and crude oil and electric power production slowed down slightly.

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

The production of raw coal has changed from decreasing to increasing. In October, the production of raw coal was 340 million tons, an increase of 1.4 percent over the same period of last year, and a decrease of 0.9 percent in the previous month; the average daily output was 10.86 million tons, with a decrease of 180,000 tons on a month on month basis. From January to October, raw coal was produced 3.13 billion tons, up 0.1 percent year on year.

The decline of coal import continued to expand. In October, the import of coal was 13.37 million tons, a decrease of 4.95 million tons on a month on month basis, a year-on-year decrease of 46.6 percent, the decline rate expanded 8.3 percentage points over the previous month; from January to October, the import of coal was 250 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3 percent.

The comprehensive trading price of port coal rose first and then fell. On October 30, the comprehensive trading prices of 5500, 5000 and 4500 kcal steam coal in Qinhuangdao Port were 575, 523 and 464 yuan per ton, respectively, which were 12, 14 and 11 yuan higher than September 25, and 5, 3 and 4 yuan lower than the highest price on October 16, respectively.

The growth rate of crude oil production slowed down slightly, while the processing speed was accelerated. In October, 16.41 million tons of crude oil were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 1.4 percent, and the growth rate was 1.0 percentage points lower than that of the previous month; the crude oil processed was 59.82 million tons, an increase of 2.6 percent, 1.3 percentage points higher than that of the previous month. From January to October, 160 million tons of crude oil were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 1.7 percent; and 560 million tons of crude oil were processed, an increase of 2.9 percent.

The growth rate of crude oil import turned from positive to negative, and the international crude oil price fell in shock. In October, imported crude oil was 42.56 million tons, a decrease of 5.92 million tons on a month on month basis, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5 percent, and an increase of 17.6 percent in last month; from January to October, imported crude oil was 460 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 10.6 percent. On October 30, the spot FOB price of Brent crude oil was USD 36.33 per barrel, down 9.9 percent from USD 40.30 per barrel on September 30.

Natural gas production has accelerated. In October, 16.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced, with a year-on-year increase of 11.9 percent, 4.3 percentage points faster than that of the previous month; the daily output of natural gas was 530 million cubic meters, an increase of 40 million cubic meters on a month on month basis. From January to October, it produced 153.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas, a year-on-year increase of 9.0 percent.

The growth rate of natural gas import has been significantly accelerated. In October, the import of natural gas reached 7.53 million tons, an increase of 15.5 percent year-on-year, with a growth rate of 9.5 percentage points higher than that of last month. From January to October, the imported natural gas reached 81.26 million tons, an increase of 4.7 percent year-on-year.

II. Electric Power Production

The growth rate of electric power production slowed down slightly. In October, the power generation was 609.4 billion kwh, an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.7 percent lower than that of the previous month; the average daily power generation was 19.66 billion kwh, a decrease of 1.39 billion kwh on a month on month basis. From January to October, power generation reached 6,028.8 billion kwh, up 1.4 percent year on year.

In terms of varieties, in October, the growth rate of hydropower, wind power and solar power generation accelerated, while that of thermal power and nuclear power changed from positive to negative. Among them, hydropower increased by 25.4 percent year-on-year, 2.6 percentage points faster than the previous month; wind power increased by 14.7 percent, 3.4 percentage points faster; solar power generation increased by 8.1 percent, 4.1 percentage points faster; thermal power decreased by 1.5 percent, which was 0.2 percent of increase in last month; nuclear power decreased by 0.3 percent, which was 7.4 percent of increase in last month.

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.