NDRC calls for increase in gas imports

The government is working on developing unconventional natural gas resources to supplement the clean energy supply.

The NDRC is asking some companies in the sector to accelerate their coal gas projects in the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, and their shale gas projects in Chongqing, in a bid to increase unconventional natural gas supply.

At the same time, China Petrochemical Corp and CNPC should boost their new natural gas capacities in Xinjiang, Qinghai and Sichuan, said the statement.

CNOOC is responsible for a natural gas production project in the Liwan 3-1 gas field in the South China Sea.

The project, with an annual production capacity of 12 billion cubic meters, was completed in May and the company said it will be put into operation by the end of the year.

The project's production capacity accounts for about 10 percent of China's current natural gas output, and will ease the gas shortage in southern China, according to Li Lingxuan, an industry analyst at Sublime China Information Co Ltd, which provides information on the commodities industry.

"Because of the LNG shortage, its prices in the market will rise and the government's priority of ensuring residential-use natural gas supply will lead to instability in natural gas supply for power generation and industrial use," said Li.

China's full-year natural gas consumption in 2013 will reach 165 billion cu m, up 14.1 percent year-on-year, according to energy information consultancy ICIS C1 Energy.

ICIS C1 estimated that China will produce 114.6 billion cu m of natural gas this year, an annual growth rate of 9 percent.

Last year, the country's natural gas production growth rate was at 5.1 percent.

China's imports of natural gas are expected to account for about 30.5 percent of its total consumption this year, a year-on-year rise of 4.36 percentage points over last year, according to the consultancy.