Forecasting natural gas supply in China: Production peak and import trends

Chinaʹs natural gas consumption has increased rapidly in recent years making China a net gas importer. As a nonrenewable energy, the gas resource is exhaustible. Based on the forecast of this article, Chinaʹs gas production peak is likely to approach in 2022. However, China is currently in the industrialization and urbanization stage, and its natural gas consumption will persistently increase. With Chinaʹs gas production peak, China will have to face a massive expansion in gas imports. As the largest developing country, Chinaʹs massive imports of gas will have an effect on the international gas market. In addition, as Chinaʹs natural gas price is still controlled by the government and has remained at a low level, the massive imports of higher priced gas will exert great pressure on Chinaʹs gas price reform.