February 20, 2013
Translated by Pang Lei

A report in today's China Securities Journal, a Beijing-based financial newspaper controlled by Xinhua News Agency, quotes an anonymous source as saying that China's top economic planning body has placed natural gas pricing reform at the top of its pricing agenda for this year.

The price reforms, which are based on a pilot program that has been operating in Guangdong and Guangxi since the end of 2011, will gradually lift the caps placed on domestic prices in order to encourage gas importers and producers.

The paper says that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) plans over the coming three years to increase the price of natural gas around the country.

The article also says that economic managers in many cities and provinces around the country are currently looking to lift the mandated cost of natural gas.

The report says that the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang plans to lift city-gate prices in March or April this year. Various cities in Jiangsu province as well as the capital Beijing are also planning to raise natural gas prices over the coming months.

Links and Sources
China Securities Journal: 天然氣價改提速 三年完成氣價上調
Economic Observer Online: China to Push Ahead with Gas Price Reform
Reuters: Analysis - China gas reforms spark investment boom