China city gas industry has developed rapidly these years: for 2005, the popularity rate reached 92%. The output and storage capacity of natural gas were up to 50-60 billion m3 and 8.23 million m3 respectively, and the consumption of natural gas and LPG achieved 17.54 billion m3 and 13.673 million tons separately.

The year of 2005 saw overall open up and fast development of China city gas industry. The contracted foreign capital of gas production and supply industry reached USD 370 million, the amount of which actually used was USD 220 million. Currently, foreign owned or Hong Kong based gas companies such as Shell, Towngas have entered into China¡¯s city gas industry by joint-ventures or merger & acquisition, and they even planed to enlarge the investment for entry into downstream subbranch market. Meanwhile, being short of energy, some provinces and municipalities around Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta have began to construct LNG pipelines so as to relief the shortage crisis of natural gas and oil. Three pipelines of Sino-Russia, Seninglan, and Shaanjing have been put into production in 2005, and the other two pipelines of Shaanjing II and Zhongwu will soon be constructed, which would form a gas transmission network to guarantee the gas supply to more than 100 cities along the pipelines.

The development trends of China city gas industry in the forthcoming twenty years are as follows: the manufactured gas will be eliminated gradually, while the natural gas will develop rapidly, and the LPG, as the complementary energy for natural gas, will develop steadily. The operation of West-east Gas Transmission Project will greatly influence the prices, supply and demand of the other energies, and China's energy market structure will also be changed totally.

Prices of Pipe Gas in Some Cities of China, Sept. 2006

With the increasing proportion of natural gas in China, the city gas market becomes promising. In the new run of public utility reform, city gas equipment construction hungers for large number of funds, so great chances are now available for foreign capital. The State Development and Reform Commission definitely claimed that, a relatively higher price is permitted in city gas and priority shall be given in supply, which makes city gas quite attractive for investors.

As for city gas investment, direct investment on manufactured gas production should be reduced and, increase investment from the transition of manufactured gas facilities to natural gas supply facilities; increase investment on  production, storage and sales of LPG in short and medium term, particularly enlarge the investment on imported LPG and gas storage tanks. The investment in natural gas field is crucial to the development of China city gas industry. With great investment, the prospect of natural gas industry will be brilliant in relevant chains of production, transmission, development and marketing.

In March of 2002, State Development and Reform Commission, former National Economy and Trade Commission and former Ministry of Foreign Trade jointly issued Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries. It was China firstly listed the city pipe network as the open up industry, that is to say, the originally forbidden field of city pipe began to open for foreign investment. Major foreign investors now have an access to gas distribution. State Development and Reform Commission also welcomes foreign capital to natural gas exploration and development, as well as city natural gas terminal sales, natural gas for power generation, oil and gas infrastructure construction, and petrochemical industry, among which the upstream, midstream and downstream of natural gas industry are all opened to foreign capital. No restriction on investment proportion in city pipe network construction, wholly foreign-owned enterprises are also permitted.

The report analyzes the policies, market and other environmental factors that influenced the development of China city gas industry, emphasizes to the research of resources, supply and demand, technology, price, performance and other operations of the city gas industry and analyzes the development of major gas enterprises. It also forecasts the development trend and investment opportunities of China city gas industry. This report is of great referential value for city gas operation enterprises, manufacturers and investment corporations to better understand the operational status of city gas industry so as to formulate competitive competition and development strategies.

2 Analyses on External Environment of City Gas Industry in 2006
2.1 Macro Economy Environment
2.1.1 Relation between Industry and Macro Economy
2.1.2 Impact of Macro Economy on Industry in 2006
2.2 Analysis on Policy Environment
2.2.1 Market-oriented of Coal Price
2.2.2 State Development and Reform Commission Raised Natural Gas Price
2.2.3 Diversified Import Channels for Natural Gas
2.2.4 Natural Gas Fee Policy Changes

3 Analysis on Supply and Demand of City Gas Industry
3.1 Supply
3.2 Demand
3.2.1 Forecast on Total Demand Amount
3.2.2 Increase of Gas Consumption and Types
3.3 Analysis of Supply and Demand of City Gas Industry in 2006

4 Analyses on Competition of City Gas Industry
4.1 Competition
4.1.1 Gas Extraction in Upstream Industry
4.1.2 Mid and Downstream of City Gas Industry
4.1.3 Foreign City Gas Enterprises
4.2 Substitute Products
4.3 Access Barrier
4.4 Merger and Reorganization

5 Financial Results of City Gas Industry
5.1 Sales and Efficiency
5.2 Analysis on Financial Indicators
5.2.1 Profitability
5.2.2 Operational Capability
5.2.3 Debt Repayment Capability
5.2.4 Development Capability

6 Major Enterprises
6.1 Large State-owned Enterprises
6.1.1 China National Petroleum Corporation
6.1.2 China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation
6.1.3 China National Offshore Oil Corporation
6.2 China Domestic Listed Companies
6.2.1 Minsheng Gas Corporation
6.2.2 Changchun Gas Co., Ltd
6.3 Hong Kong Listed Companies
6.3.1 XinAo Gas Holdings Limited
6.3.2 Panva Gas Holdings Ltd
6.3.3 China Gas Holdings Ltd

7 Analyses on Industry Development Trend
7.1 Accelerated Urbanization Process Results in Increasing Gas Consumption
7.2 Optimize Gas Usage Structure and Natural Gas Share will Increase
7.3 Diversified Investors Promote Gas Development
7.4 Natural Gas Price will continue to Increase

8 City Gas Industry Investment and Credit Suggestions
8.1 Investment Opportunities
8.2 Investment Risks
8.2.1 Policy Risk
8.2.2 Liquidity Risk
8.2.3 Lack of Matching Facility Construction
8.2.4 Water Pollution
8.3 Suggestions for Investors
8.3.1 Key Investment Directions
8.3.2 Key Investment Regions
8.3.3 Risk-preventing Measures
8.4 Suggestions for Bank Credit
8.4.1 Credit Risk Evaluation
8.4.2 Credit Opportunities
8.4.3 Credit Methods