China's largest oil and gas producer and supplier China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) intends to increase sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the next three years to help promote the use of LNG-powered vehicles as part of its government's drive for cleaner energy.

CNPC unveiled a domestic sales target of 11.5 billion cubic metres (roughly 9 million tonnes) of LNG and its use in at least 200,000 vehicles by the end of 2015 in the company's in-house newspaper, the China Petroleum Daily, on Jun 12.

By the end of last year, China had almost 1.5 million gas-powered vehicles, most of which run on compressed natural gas (CNG), the paper said.

Almost 100 Chinese cities are promoting the use of LNG-fuelled vehicles, with the majority in Sichuan and Shangdong Provinces and the autonomous region of Xinjiang Uygur, according to China's national daily newspaper China Daily.

CNPC operates its gas business via PetroChina and Kunlun Energy.  Last year saw the start-up of two main LNG receiving terminals with a total annual capacity of 6.5 million tonnes.

Membership Recruitment for 『ECF International Shale Gas Forum』 Opens Now! CNPC has also begun several small-scale gas liquefaction plants, to chill and truck to users the "stranded gas" in some Chinese fields that are considered too small for large-scale pipeline transport.

Despite a lack of consistent design and technological standards, China is converting some of its finishing boats and fleets of buses, trucks and river vehicles to use cleaner and cheaper LNG.

The country's five-year plan to 2015 has set ambitious clean-energy targets and needs close links with developed countries to achieve them, China Daily said in a separate news item.  Under the plan, China will need to find US$80-150 billion a year to fund its renewable energy, emissions and energy efficiency targets.  Last year it invested around US$54.4 billion.Newbase,Jun 14,2012)