75% of world average gas consumption per
capita in 2014.
5.3.2 Opportunities in Natural Gas
Demand
(1) High growth potential in transport
Compared with oil products, natural gas as a
vehicle fuel delivers many benefits. It is safe,
efficient, cleaner and low carbon. In 2000–14,
natural gas consumption in China’s transport,
warehousing and postal services sector increased
from 880 to 21,440 million cubic metres, which
is an average annual growth rate of 25.6%, a
figure far higher than that of petrol (8.5%) and
diesel (9.5%) in transport in the same period. The
sector’s share of China’s total gas consumption
increased from 3.6 to 11.5%.
In recent years, gas-fuelled vehicles have
developed rapidly in China, mainly in compressed and liquefied natural gas (CNG and
Fig. 48 China’s natural gas consumption in 2014. Source National Bureau of Statistics of China
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
Natural gas consumption, 100
million cubic metres
Fig. 49 China’s natural gas consumption, 2001–30. Source National Bureau of Statistics of China
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Y. Jianlong and M. Haigh