OREANDA-NEWS. August 06, 2012. China’s imports of liquefied natural gas rose 29 percent in the first half of 2012 from a year earlier while purchases of coal climbed 61 percent, according to the Beijing-based General Administration of Customs.

LNG supplies increased to 6.7 million metric tons through June this year with the delivered unit cost of the fuel at USD 549 a ton, or USD 11.30 per million British thermal units, according to the data. Coal imports, excluding lignite and including metallurgical coal, climbed to 113 million tons, delivered at an average of USD 118.55 a ton.

Crude futures, used to price contracted supplies of LNG, averaged USD 113.61 a barrel in London in the first half, which in calorie equivalent terms was about USD 19.59 per million Btu.

Purchases of LNG in June rose 16 percent to 1.21 million tons at USD 602 a ton compared with a year earlier, according to the data. The country bought 120,000 tons of the fuel from Nigeria at about USD 899 a ton. That’s equivalent to USD 18.50 per million Btu.

The country paid USD 511 a ton in May for LNG purchases and about USD 21 per million Btu for a spot purchase from Russia, according to customs data. Piped gas volumes from Turkmenistan increased by 58 percent in the first half to 7.28 million tons at USD 552 a ton.

Coal purchases climbed 65 percent in June from a year earlier to 22.53 million tons, according to the data. That cost an average USD 115 a ton.