CHINA National Petroleum Corp aims to boost liquefied natural gas sales and power 200,000 vehicles with the fuel by 2015 in a bid to boost the use of the cleaner-burning energy.

CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, plans to sell 11.5 billion cubic meters, or nearly 9 million tons, of LNG in 2015, the China Petroleum Daily, a company newspaper, said yesterday, without giving the current level.

CNPC, parent of PetroChina Co, last year started two LNG receiving terminals in Dalian, Liaoning Province, and Rudong, Jiangsu Province. They have a combined annual capacity of 6.5 million tons.

CNPC has also set up liquefaction facilities at some small gas fields with no pipeline connection to chill and truck gas to users.

With the government's efforts to curb pollution, the LNG-powered vehicle market, especially for trucks and buses, is potentially huge. But industry observers said an improved network of LNG pump stations is vital to support the potential.

China had more than 1.48 million vehicles running on natural gas at the end of 2011, according to the newspaper.