BEIJING, May 20. /TASS/. China increased its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia by 16% in January-April year-on-year to 2.02 mln tons, the General Administration of Customs of China reported.

Meanwhile, according to figures released, Russian LNG deliveries to the country decreased by 4.6% in value terms in the reporting period to $992.77 mln. Russia is in fourth place in the ranking of leading exporters of this energy resource to China.

Australia was the largest supplier of LNG to China in the period. Its deliveries from January to April fell by 15.9% year-on-year to 5.35 mln tons. Qatar came in second (4.35 mln tons, a decrease of 34.7%).

Malaysia ranked third in China’s LNG imports (2.3 mln tons). Indonesia followed Russia (974,000 tons). According to the agency’s data, the United States did not supply this energy source to China from January to April.

In terms of month-to-month comparison, Chinese imports of Russian LNG added 14.8% in April compared to March, reaching 640,500 tons. In terms of value, they increased by 30% to $341.6 mln.