A Glance of China Oil Market 20260302

Weekly News

China's natural gas market in 2026: fading seasonality and a rebalancing of LNG imports

The year 2025 marked an inflection point for China's natural gas market. The traditional winter heating season failed to generate the usual price volatility, while LNG imports, historically the primary source of incremental supply, unexpectedly retreated. Entering 2026, several indicators suggest a gradual shift in market dynamics. Total gas demand growth is projected to exceed 5% in 2026. The supply gap is estimated to widen by 8.2% year on year, potentially lifting China's external dependency ratio back above 40%. Read Full Story

China's semi-coke production to expand moderately in 2026

The national production of semi-coke – a fuel used in producing ferrosilicon, calcium carbide, silicomanganese and ferroalloy – will likely rise moderately this year from the 66.3 million tonnes realized in 2025, which registered a slight 1% increase from the 2024 level, Mysteel's survey results show. One production driver could be the planned commercial operation of 12 vertical carbonization furnaces in Shenmu city – a leading semi-coke production hub in Northwest China's Shaanxi province – in June this year, with capacities combined at 1.8 million tonnes/year, survey respondents disclosed. Read Full Story