Energy Production in December 2023

In December, the production of main energy products of industrial enterprises above the designated size continued to grow steadily. Compared with November, the growth rate of coal, natural gas and electricity was slowed down, and that of crude petroleum oil accelerated.

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

The growth rate of coal production increased steadily, and that of the import increased rapidly. In December, 410 million tons of coal were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 1.9 percent year on year, a growth rate of 2.7 percentage points slower than that of the previous month, with an average daily output of 13.36 million tons. The import of coal was 47.30 million tons, up by 53.0 percent year on year, a growth rate of 18.2 percentage points faster than that of the previous month.

In 2023, 4.66 billion tons of coal were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 2.9 percent year on year. The import of coal was 470 million tons, up by 61.8 percent year on year.

The growth rate of crude petroleum oil production increased slightly, and that of the import changed from decreasing to increasing. In December, 17.65 million tons of crude petroleum oil were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 4.6 percent year on year, a growth rate of 2.0 percentage points faster than that of the previous month, with an average daily output of 569,000 tons. The import of crude petroleum oil was 48.36 million tons, up by 0.6 percent year on year, compared with a decrease of 9.1 percent in November.

In 2023, 208.91 million tons of crude petroleum oil were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 2.0 percent year on year. The import of crude petroleum oil was 563.99 million tons, up by 11.0 percent year on year.

The growth rate of crude petroleum oil processing capacity accelerated slightly. In December, 60.11 million tons of crude petroleum oil were processed by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 1.1 percent year on year, a growth rate of 0.9 percentage point faster than that of the previous month, with an average daily processing capacity of 1.939 million tons. In 2023, 734.78 million tons of crude petroleum oil were processed by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 9.3 percent year on year.

The growth rate of natural gas production remained stable and that of the import achieved a fairly rapid growth. In December, 20.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 2.9 percent year on year, a growth rate of 2.4 percentage points slower than that of the previous month, with an average daily output of 670 million cubic meters. The import of natural gas was 12.65 million tons, up by 23.0 percent year on year, a growth rate of 16.4 percentage points faster than that of the previous month.

In 2023, 229.7 billion tons of natural gas were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 5.8 percent year on year. The import of natural gas was 119.97 million tons, up by 9.9 percent year on year.

II. Electricity Generation

The electricity generation enjoys steady growth. In December, 829.0 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 8.0 percent year on year, a growth rate of 0.4 percentage point slower than that of the previous month, with an average daily electricity generation capacity of 26.74 billion kilowatt-hours. In 2023, 8.9 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 5.2 percent year on year.

From the perspective of energy sources, in December, the growth rate of thermal power generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size accelerated, that of hydropower, wind power and solar power generation slowed down and the decline of nuclear-power generation expanded. Among them, the growth rate of thermal power generation increased by 9.3 percent, 3.0 percentage points faster than that of the previous month; that of hydropower generation increased by 2.5 percent, 2.9 percentage points slower than that of the previous month; that of nuclear-power generation decreased by 4.2 percent, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points from the previous month; that of wind power generation increased by 7.4 percent, 19.2 percentage points slower than that of the previous month; that of solar power generation increased by 17.2 percent, 18.2 percentage points slower than that of the previous 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 the industrial enterprises above the designated size, and the statistical scope is industrial enterprises with an annual main business revenue of 20 million yuan and above.

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 this year and last year.

3. Data Source

Import data came from the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China, of which December data are express data.

4. Conversion relationship of natural gas units: 1 ton is equal to 1,380 cubic meters.