Macao imported more energy in the second quarter of this year, as imports of gasoline, electricity, etc. were all registered quarter-to-quarter increase, according to the figures released by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) Tuesday.

The figures showed that the imports of gasoline amounted to 15.81 million liters and the respective consumption totaled 15.62 million liters, up by 15.9 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, over the previous quarter. On account of the 10.9 percent increase in the average price of gasoline imports, the local list price of unleaded gasoline went up by 12.5 percent quarter-to-quarter.

Imports of gas oil and diesel also increased by 10.5 percent from the previous quarter to 43.95 million liters, but the consumption decreased by 3 percent to 40.84 million liters. The list prices of different types of gas oil and diesel went up by 17.2 percent to 18.2 percent quarter-to-quarter, due to a 6.9-percent rise in the average price of imports, according to the DSEC.

Imports of electricity also rose by 5.4 percent over the previous quarter to 526 million kWh, the DSEC said. The consumption registered an increase of 31.6 percent.

In addition, the respective imports and consumption of natural gas soared three-fold over the previous quarter, to 26.7 million and 26.5 million cubic meters, respectively.

Meanwhile, imports of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) amounted to 9,096 tons and the consumption totaled 9,497 tons, down by 25.1 percent and 19.2 percent respectively over the previous quarter, according to the DSEC.

The average price of LPG imports rose by 2.9 percent quarter-to-quarter, with the list prices of bottled LPG and centralized LPG going up by 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2008)