Energy Production in April 2024

In April, the production of coal, crude petroleum oil, natural gas, and electricity by industrial enterprises above the designated size generally trended to a stable level.

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

The decline of coal production narrowed, and the import rebounded remarkedly. In April, 370 million tons of coal were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, down by 2.9 percent, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points narrower over that of March, with an average daily output of 12.39 million tons. The import of coal stood at 45.25 million tons, up by 11.3 percent year on year.

From January to April, 1.48 billion tons of coal were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, down by 3.5 percent year on year. The import of coal stood at 160 million tons, up by 13.1 percent year on year.

The production of crude petroleum oil maintained steady growth, and the import changed from decreasing to increasing. In April, 17.47 million tons of crude petroleum oil were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 1.3 percent year on year, a growth rate of 0.1 percentage point faster than that of March, with an average daily output of 582,000 tons. The import of crude petroleum oil stood at 44.72 million tons, up by 5.9 percent year on year.

From January to April, 70.95 million tons of crude petroleum oil were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 2.1 percent year on year. The import of crude petroleum oil stood at 182.07 million tons, up by 2.0 percent year on year.

Crude petroleum oil processing fell. In April, 58.79 million tons of crude petroleum oil were processed by industrial enterprises above the designated size, down by 3.3 percent year on year, compared with an increase of 1.3 percent in March, with an average daily processing capacity of 1.96 million tons. From January to April, 241.26 million tons of crude petroleum oil were processed by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 1.1 percent year on year.

The production of natural gas increased steadily, and the import kept rapid growth. In April, 19.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 3.2 percent year on year, a growth rate of 1.3 percentage points slower than that in March, with an average daily output of 660 million cubic meters. The import of natural gas stood at 10.30 million tons, up by 15.1 percent year on year.

From January to April, 83.0 billion tons of natural gas were produced by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 5.0 percent year on year. The import of natural gas stood at 43.00 million tons, up by 20.7 percent year on year.

II. Electricity Generation

The growth rate of power generation accelerated. In April, 690.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 3.1 percent year on year, a growth rate of 0.3 percentage point faster than that in March, with an average daily electricity generation capacity of 23.00 billion kilowatt-hours. From January to April, 2.9329 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size, up by 6.1 percent year on year.

From the perspective of energy sources, in April, the growth rate of thermal power, hydropower, solar power generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size accelerated, that of nuclear-power generation changed from decreasing to increasing and that of wind power declined year on year. Among them, the thermal power generated by industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 1.3 percent year on year, a growth rate of 0.8 percentage point faster than that in March; the wind power increased by 21.0 percent, a growth rate of 17.9 percentage points faster than that in March; the nuclear-power increased by 5.9 percent, compared with a decrease of 4.8 percent in March; the wind power decreased by 8.4 percent, compared with an increase of 16.8 percent in March; the solar power increased by 21.4 percent, a growth rate of 5.6 percentage points faster than that in March.

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, cumulative figures for the same period last year 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 April 2024 data is express data.

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