AsiaPulse reported that China is expected to have a natural gas shortage exceeding 10 billion cubic meters in 2010, according to information from the South China Coal Trading Center.

The trading center said that China natural gas demand is increasing sharply and the supply and demand gap would expand in the coming years, since natural gas resources are limited in the country.

In 2009, China produced 83 billion cubic meters of natural gas, leaving a shortage of more than 4 billion, which had to depend on imports.

According to the trading center, the international natural gas price has kept increasing recently. With higher dependence on imports, it will be hard for Chinese natural gas prices to escape from international influences.

(Sourced from AsiaPulse)