KUNMING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- China imported 5 million tonnes of crude oil via the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline in the first half (H1), up 2.7 percent year on year, according to the Kunming Customs in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The customs statistics available on Sunday showed that the import value amounted to 17.27 billion yuan (about 2.51 billion U.S. dollars), up 9.2 percent year on year with the average import price reaching 3,443.8 yuan per tonne, up 6.4 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the imports of natural gas from Myanmar amounted to 1.68 million tonnes (equivalent to 2.5 billion cubic meters), down 2.3 percent from the same period of last year, with a total value of 5.89 billion yuan, up 11.7 percent from the same period of last year. The average import price was 3,499.2 yuan per tonne, up 14.4 percent year on year.

Crude oil started entering China via the 1,420-km China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline from 2017, and the China-Myanmar natural gas pipeline was put into operation in July 2013.

According to the Dehong oil and gas transmission branch of the China National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday, China has imported more than 19 million tonnes of crude oil and more than 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline.