OREANDA-NEWS. July 21, 2011. CHINA'S apparent fuel consumption in the first half rose 7.2 percent from a year earlier to 118.4 million metric tons, the National Development and Reform Commission said in an online statement.

The consumption rise was driven by China's rapid economic growth plus domestic fuel price adjustment anticipation in line with soaring international oil prices, according to the NDRC, the country's top planning body.

Current domestic fuel supply is stable, with the storage by the end of June increased by nearly 1 million metric tons than the same period last year, it said.

Meanwhile, China's apparent natural gas consumption rose 21 percent to 63.1 billion cubic meters in the first six months of this year.

The country boosted its domestic output of the fuel by 7 percent to 50.5 billion cubic meters and doubled imports to about 14.1 billion cubic meters, the NDRC said.