OREANDA-NEWS.  September 30, 2014. The production volume of natural gas increased to 121 billion cubic meters by 9.8% YOY in China in 2013, including 117.8 billion cubic meters of conventional natural gas, 200 million cubic meters of shale gas and 3 billion cubic meters of coalbed methane.

The demand for natural gas increases significantly as transform projects from coal to natural gas are launched in China after 2013. Natural gas was in short supply as the increases in synthetic natural gas (SNG) and imported natural gas fell short of expectation in 2013. The market demand will continue the upward trend as energy policies are adjusted. China is the third largest consumption country of natural gas in the world.

The demand for natural gas is estimated to keep increasing while the proportion to the total consumption of primary energy will be 6.3% in 2014. The supply of natural gas is unable to meet the demand. The reserve and production volume of conventional natural gas are unable to meet the increasing demand in China. Moreover, Chinese government reinforces the measures to increase proportion of clean energy consumption, which also stimulates the demand for natural gas. The import of natural gas relieves the insufficient domestic supply as the production volume of natural gas possesses limited potential for growth in China.

The dependence ratio of oil gas on import keeps increasing. The import volume of natural gas was 53.4 billion cubic meters in China in 2013, up by 25.6% YOY. The growth rate of pipeline gas and LNG were 24.3% and 27.0% respectively. The apparent consumption of natural gas was 169.2 billion cubic meters, up by 12.9%. The dependence ratio of natural gas on import exceeded 30% in 2013. In China, the factory price of natural gas is set by Chinese government while the retail price is set by local government.

Therefore, the retail price may be lower than the factory price. Enterprises with integration of upstream and downstream can avoid the risk while pure downstream enterprises may suffer loss. The demand for natural gas and LNG will increase rapidly as Chinese economy develops and urbanization accelerates in the future.

The market potential of natural gas and LNG is huge as over half of Chinese households use firewood or coal as fuel in China. Many investment opportunities exist for natural gas and LNG exploration enterprises, trading enterprises and equipment manufacturers in Chinese market. Non-state-owned funds are subject to many restrictions in the field of natural gas exploitation. Private and foreign-funded enterprises can invest in shale gas, coal bed gas and LNG fields, which enjoy preference policies of the government.