OREANDA-NEWS. March 01, 2011. China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, boosted purchases of liquefied natural gas by 4.8 percent in January and paid 13 percent more on a unit basis from a year earlier, according to customs data.

Purchases climbed to 814,186 metric tons from 776,603 tons a year earlier, according to trade data published today by the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs. Imports were at a record 1.03 million tons in December.

Imports in January were valued at about USD 250 million, according to the data. That’s equivalent to a delivered cost of about USD 308 a ton, or USD 5.90 per million British thermal units, compared with USD 335 a ton in December, and USD 272 a ton a year earlier.

China has set a “preliminary” target of more than doubling the consumption of natural gas in the country by 2015, the Shanghai Securities News said last month.

The country received four spot cargoes in January, including two from Yemen and one each from Egypt and Nigeria, according to the data. That compares with five spot cargoes a year earlier and one spot cargo in December.

The prices paid for term and spot shipments of the fuel in January were 31 percent more than average U.S. benchmark gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange over the same period.

LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume for shipment by tankers to destinations not connected by pipeline.