Top Stories of The Day: China Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

The following are top stories in China's oil, gas and petrochemical sector on Monday:

1. Natural gas output gained pace in November due to increasing demand for the fuel as winter approached, latest data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) showed.

Output amounted to 9.8 billion cubic meters last month, an increase of 11.4 percent year on year, the NDRC said.

China's imports of natural gas moved up 22.5 percent year on year to 3.8 billion cubic meters last month, while the apparent consumption came in at 13.6 billion cubic meters, the commission said.

In the first 11 months, the country's output of natural gas rose 6.8 percent year on year to 97.6 billion cubic meters, while imports saw a 36.7-percent jump to 38.1 billion cubic meters, according to the NDRC.

2. Clean energy accounted for 28 percent of China's overall installed power generation capacity by 2011, said Wang Zhixuan, secretary general with China Electricity Council on Friday.

Speaking at an industrial meeting, Wang said China's solar power generation capacity reached 3,090 MW by October 2012, with hydraulic power and on-grid wind power capacity largest in the world.

Wang said 75 percent of China's thermal power generation capacity is contributed by power generation units with more than 300 MW of capacity.

In 2002, clean energy only accounted for 21 percent of China's total power generation capacity, according to Wang.

3. China could produce 20 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2020, much lower than government target of 60 billion to 100 billion cubic meters, according to a report by Economic Daily on Friday.

China could develop shale gas in three stages from the time being to 2030, Zhao Wenzhi, deputy director of an expert committee on exploration technology of the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), said recently.

Zhao said China would build several pioneering demonstration zones by 2015 to form key exploration and development technologies and production models suitable to Chinese conditions.

From 2015 to 2020, shale gas could be developed on a large scale and annual output could reach 20 billion cubic meters in 2020 with focus on oceanic phase blocks in south China. Breakthroughs also would be made on continental and oceanic-continental transitional areas of blocks.

With the forming of a whole set of technologies and a sound administration system on shale gas exploration and development, China's shale gas industry could see rapid development.

China's yearly shale gas output was likely to reach 100 billion cubic meters in 2030, said Zhao.

Currently, China did not have formal commercial production of shale gas, with less than 100 wells drilled in the country.