Natural gas imports to remain high

Imports will account for a major chunk of China's natural gas usage this year, even as the country strives to improve clean fuel usage, experts said.

Wang Xiaokun, an energy analyst with Sublime China Information Co, a Chinese commodities consultancy, said on Tuesday that China's reliance on natural gas imports will continue to increase as supplies from domestic fields is dwindling and demand rising.

Imports are expected to account for 32 percent of China's natural gas usage this year, compared with 28 percent last year, according to the consultancy's calculation based on output statistics provided by the National Bureau of Statistics and imports data from the customs office. China's natural gas consumption is expected to be around 170 billion cubic meters this year.

The figure has already reached 32 percent during the first ten months this year and will stay at this level for the remaining two months, Wang said.

"The government has been encouraging development of shale gas, coal bed methane and coal gas to ease the soaring domestic demand for energy," said Wang. "However, technological obstacles and environmental issues are major difficulties for development of these resources."