Gulf Times: As China’s Gas Boom Falters, Energy Giants Grapple with Wave of Imports

China’s energy giants – after years spent scrambling to secure supplies for the world’s third-biggest gas market – are being forced to sell a glut of the fuel to buyers in other countries as soaring demand grinds to a halt.

Consumption has been hit by a cooling economy, but also state policies that ensure Chinese pay among the world’s highest gas prices, threatening Beijing’s targets of curbing pollution and emissions by using more of the clean-burning fuel.

This will increase pressure on Chinese policy makers to speed up planned reforms of its oil and gas sector, as well as weigh on global gas prices.

Chinese state oil firms agreed to a string of long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts with producers from Qatar to Papua New Guinea, as gas consumption jumped five-fold between 2004 and 2013, but that was before demand growth went from double-digits to less than 3% this year. MORE