BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- China's crude oil production returned to growth in the first two months of the year, while crude processing and natural gas output continued to expand, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

From January to February, China's industrial crude oil output reached 35.73 million tonnes, up 1.9 percent year on year, reversing the 0.6 percent decline in December 2025. The average daily production stood at 606,000 tonnes, according to the data.

Crude oil processing also maintained steady growth during the period. Total crude throughput at industrial refineries reached 122.63 million tonnes, up 2.9 percent year on year, with an average daily processing volume of 2.079 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, natural gas production continued to grow steadily. Output from industrial enterprises above a designated size totaled 44.6 billion cubic meters in the first two months, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, with an average daily production of 760 million cubic meters, according to the NBS. ■