Crude production down 5.1% during first seven months of 2016 Nation’s coal mining output drops 10% from January-July China’s crude oil and coal production declines deepened as the nation’s oil companies cut spending amid low prices and coal miners slashed output to meet government-set targets. Crude production last month in the world’s largest energy consumer dropped 8.1 percent to 16.7 million metric tons from a year ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. That’s about 3.95 million barrels a day, sliding more than 2 percent from June. Output is down 5.1 during the first seven months of the year. Coal mining during that period slowed 10 percent to 1.9 billion tons. Chinese oil majors are estimated to have cut capital spending by 10 percent in the first half of the year from the same period in 2015, resulting in a drop in domestic crude […]