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Over the last five years, gas consumption, production, and imports in China have grown dramatically, with two-digit growth.
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Natural Gas Consumption
Considering China's immense demand for energy, gas plays a relatively small role in its energy use, with only 5% of total energy in 2012. However, Chinese authorities see natural gas as a lower-polluting and less carbon-intensive alternative to coal, and gas consumption is increasing rapidly. Natural gas is expected to supply 10% of the nation’s energy supply by 2020.
Production
China produced 112 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013, making it the sixth largest gas producer in the world.Gas production more than doubled over the period 2005-2013.
Natural Gas Imports
Despite rapidly rising natural gas production, in 2013 China imported 52 billion cubic meters of natural gas, making it the world's fifth largest gas importer. Imports increased more than tenfold in the period 2008-2013. China has worked to diversify its sources for natural gas imports.
In 2013, China was the world’s third-largest importer of LNG, behind Japan and Korea. In that year, 85% of China's LNG supply came from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Qatar.
To lessen dependence on LNG, China has built pipelines to import natural gas from Myanmar and Central Asia. In 2014, China closed a deal with Russia to import large volumes of gas from eastern Russia, starting in 2018.