BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- China's crude oil output expanded at a slower pace in the first two months of the year, while natural gas production posted faster growth, according to official data.

China's output of crude oil edged up 0.5 percent year on year to 30.69 million tonnes in the first two months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The pace of growth decelerated from a rise of 2 percent registered in December of 2018.

Crude oil imports expanded at a faster pace, rising 5.1 percent from one year earlier to 42.6 million tonnes in January and up 21.6 percent to 39.23 million tonnes in February.

The NBS data also showed the country's natural gas production increased at a faster pace during the Jan.-Feb. period, up 9.2 percent to 28.68 billion cubic meters.

Imports of natural gas stood at 9.81 million tonnes in Jan. and 7.57 million tonnes in Feb., up 26.8 percent and 9 percent respectively.