BEIJING - China's crude oil output fell 8 percent year on year in the first two months of 2017 as refineries slashed production and imported more due to high exploitation costs, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday.

Crude oil output came in at 31.4 million tons during the period, while imports gained 12.5 percent to 65.8 million tons.

Although the global oil price has hovered around $50 per barrel this year, domestic refineries still opted for more imports due to high production costs, according to the NBS.

In the first two months, natural gas output totaled 25.2 billion cubic meters, unchanged from the same period last year.

Imports of natural gas grew 7.5 percent.

China aims to increase domestic crude oil output to 200 million tons by 2020, while supply capacity for natural gas should exceed 360 billion cubic meters.