Gas supply nearly normal in southern cities

The flow of natural gas to China's southern cities is almost back to normal after great efforts were made to boost supply, coupled with a decline in consumption when warmer weather returned. There was an extremely heavy demand for gas in Wuhan, Nanjing and Changsha because of rain and heavy snow recently.

The situation in Wuhan has improved because of additional supplies from PetroChina as well as a drop in the city's gas consumption for heating and daily use as temperatures rose. After a 9-day halt in the gas supply, 27 gas stations across the city resumed fuel sales to taxis on Wednesday.

There are about 8,300 taxies in Wuhan, consuming 250-thousand cubic meters of natural gas everyday. The local government worked out four measures to ease the gas supply pressure.PetroChina also promised to increase the supply to Nanjing next month.

The natural gas supply to Changsha in Hunan province also returned to normal. To ensure a stable gas supply during bad weather, a 20-million-yuan natural gas pipeline from Changsha to Xiangtan will be put into operation next month. In the meantime, the pipeline transport capacity will increase from the current 65-thousand cubic meters an hour to 120-thousand cubic meters an hour.