China's Natural Gas Consumption Reaches 129 Billion Cubic Meters in 2011

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources China (Beijing, China)--China's natural gas market increased in 2011. Through the joint efforts of parties involved, the market had maintained an overall balance between production and sales. While the consumption was largely increased, the availability of natural gas in China also improved.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China and the General Customs Administration of China, the apparent natural gas consumption reached a record high of 129 billion cubic meters in 2011, an increase of 20.6% year over year. Of which, the import volume was 31 billion cubic meters, an increase of 82.3%. The proportion of natural gas in the nation's primary energy consumption was improved to 4.8%.

Following the emergence of a low-carbon economy and enhanced efforts in energy conservation and emission reduction in recent years, the adjustment process of the energy structure in China has been further accelerated. As a result, the proportion of higher efficiency energy consumption was increased rapidly. The double-digit annual growth in natural gas consumption promoted the steady and rapid development in natural gas production.

In 2011, China's natural gas output surpassed 100 billion cubic meters for the first time, reaching 102.53 billion cubic meters, which was 3.6 times of the volume 10 years ago. In the past 10 years, the annual average growth rate reached 14%, ranking the top among all kinds of fossil and non-fossil energies in China. Following the completion of the first natural gas station in Lhasa, China's natural gas consumption has covered all provincial capital cities.

In the past 10 years, the ranking of China's natural gas consumption in the world has increased from 20th to fourth, and the ranking for natural gas output has risen from 16th to seventh.

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