China will provide a 60-billion-US-dollar market share of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to foreign enterprises by 2020, said a Chinese oil industry leader Sunday.

Addressing the Asia Pacific Business Forum, Fu Chengyu, generalmanager of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), said that China's output of natural gas cannot meet the rising demand for clean energy in the country in the next 15 to 20 years.

Currently, China boasts 1,300 to 1,600 billion cubic meters of proved natural gas reserve, but the demand for this kind of clean energy in the next 15 years will rise by 12 percent annually, according to a forecast of CNOOC.

It is predicted that the annual consumption of natural gas in China will reach 160 to 210 billion cubic meters by 2020.

Fu said that 49 percent of China's natural gas source will relyon import by then, with 39 percent from liquefied natural gas import and possibly 10 percent provided by the pipe project from Russia and Central Asian nations.

Clive Brown, Minister for State Development of Western Australia, said that China's rapid economic growth and rising demand for energy sources has provided Australia great business opportunities.

Western Australia was one of the first LNG providers to China.

Zhang Xinhua, a researcher of policy and strategy with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said that a bigger role of natural gas in China's construction can help avoid the simultaneous rise of pollution with resources consumption.

The rising supply of natural gas can also help China alleviate its dependence on petroleum import.
 
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2004)