中国天然气进口:遭遇低增长,锁定高目标

Chinese gas imports: slowing growth but high targets

经历了2009年至2013年期间高达15.8％的年均增速后，中国天然气消费的扩张步伐显著放缓。中国政府仍有计划大力提高国内天然气消费。

Following average growth of 15.8% p.a. in 2009-13, expansion in China's gas consumption slowed notably to 5.6% in 2014 and 3.6% in 2015. This slowdown contributed to an overall decline in China's LNG imports in 2015. However, despite the trends seen in 2015, and continued questions over the long-term outlook, the government still has plans to raise domestic gas consumption significantly.Nevertheless, China seems committed to reducing coal use, and this could bolster demand for cleaner energy sources such as natural gas in coming years. As part of this, China significantly reduced domestic gas prices in late 2015, which may make natural gas more competitive against other energy sources. For now, there are a number of hurdles for China's gas sector to overcome in the short-term. Whilst an increasing share of gas imports could be transported via pipeline in coming years, if China's targets come to fruition, in the longer-term China's LNG demand could still power on.