As China’s natural gas demand growth slows, domestic gas producers are lobbying the authorities to raise the number of gas-fired power plants, which they see as the key growth driver going forward, sources involved in advising on energy policy have told Bloomberg.
China’s gas demand growth has weakened in recent years amid slower industrial expansion, as well as booming renewables and continued reliance on coal in the power generation sector.
The electricity generation sector represents about 18% of the Chinese natural gas consumption. The power sector is proposing China to install almost 70 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired power generation capacity by the end of the decade, according to Bloomberg’s sources. If built, this new capacity would be a nearly 50% jump compared to 2025 levels, the anonymous sources added.
China’s demand for LNG has been weak so far this year, due to high stockpiles, a milder winter, and uncompetitive LNG supply compared to domestic gas output or pipeline imports from Russia and Central Asia.
Chinese LNG imports are expected to drop in 2025, according to the latest estimates from BloombergNEF. China is set to see this year the first annual decline in LNG imports since 2022.
But China faces high costs of boosting gas-fired power generation as gas is more expensive than solar, while coal plays the role of baseload capacity capable to support demand peaks.
After last year’s first annual decline in coal power plant approvals since 2021, the Chinese pipeline of newly-approved coal-fired electricity generation rebounded in early 2025, Greenpeace East Asia said in new research last week.
Globally, China is the leader in renewable energy capacity installations, but it is also a leader in coal-fired power and continues to be the key driver of record-high global coal demand.
In addition, China is looking to boost its domestic coal demand and prices this year. Coal prices in China have been depressed this year, weighing on the profits and profitability of the coal producers.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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