BEIJING, Nov. 19, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- China National Petroleum Corporatio n (CNPC), China's leading oil and gas producer, said Wednesday it is t o transfer its natural gas deposit to meet the increasing demand.
An unnamed CNPC official said the company has by November 16 use d 82.29 million cubic meters of natural gas in the deposit, a kind of natural gas inventory to meet emergency demands.
The company vowed to go in full swing to secure natural gas supp ly to the country's snowstorm-hit areas, in which the plummeting tempe rature below zero has driven drastic civilian demand for fuels and gas
for warming.
Since the beginning of November, such sever weather has caused n atural gas supply stress in North China, Northwest China, East China, Hubei and Hunan provinces due to increasing demand and limited supply capacity.
According to the official, CNPC's total natural gas supply has a mounted to 189 million cubic meters per day from 169 million cubic met ers per day at the beginning of November.
The stress supply during the cold weather reflects natural gas's
increasing importance in Chinese people's daily life. It is necessary
to re-shape the country's natural gas industry development strategy t o firstly secure civilian use of such resource rather than serve as fe edstock to petrochemical projects or power plants.
CNPC is the parent company of PetroChina (PTR.NYSE; 601857.SH).
