China will raise domestic onshore natural gas benchmark prices by around 25% from Tuesday, under a long-touted reform to encourage more efficient use of the fuel.
China will raise domestic onshore natural gas benchmark prices by around
25% from Tuesday, under a long-touted reform to encourage more efficient use of
the fuel.
China
had
been charging natural gas prices at much lower rates compared with other
alternative fuels, in a bid to keep households' living costs in check. However,
this led to soaring demand particularly from the industrial sector and caused
severe supply shortages.
The nation will raise the benchmark ex-factory gas rate from CNY0.93 a cubic
meter to CNY1.16 a cubic meter, which will add CNY4.6 [$0.67] of monthly living
cost to each household, the National Development and Reform Commission said on
its website Monday.
In addition, gas prices will be allowed to float as long as it stays within an
upward limit of 10%, NDRC also said.
The move comes as billions of cubic meters of natural gas are set to arrive in
China
over
the next decade, either in the form of liquefied natural gas transported by
ship or moved through cross-border pipelines. Most of these supplies were
bought at international market prices.
The nation is expected to import more than 15 billion cubic meters of gas this
year, NDRC said.
Higher prices would also encourage PetroChina Co. (PTR) and China Petroleum
& Chemical Corp. (SNP), the nation's top onshore gas producers, to ramp up
output. This will help realize the government's goal to have natural gas
account for 10% of
China
's
energy mix by 2020, up from 3% in 2005, because it is less polluting than coal
and oil, said analysts.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Παρ, 11 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 20:08
Παρ, 11 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 20:03
Πεμ, 10 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 19:39
Πεμ, 10 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 19:36
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58