China's power use to rise by 10-12%

The National Energy Administration said China’s power consumption will increase by 10%-12% this year to 4.61 trillion-4.69 trillion kilowatt hours. Power consumption will increase 11% from a year earlier to 2.2 trillion kilowatt hours in the first half of the year, the agency said. Electricity use in January and March has already neared levels seen during last year’s peak hours in the summer, largely due to robust industrial consumption, NEA said. Apparent oil product consumption in the first six months of the year will increase by 9% from a year earlier to 130 million metric tons, while full-year consumption will increase by 8% to 265 million tons. Natural gas production in the full year of 2011 will likely reach 104 billion cubic meters, up 7.5%, it said. (April 22,2011)