South Korea's "Energy and Environment News"reported on August 2, according to the "World Natural Gas Market Report(2018)" released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently, Chinawill dominate the growth of global natural gas consumption in the future.Affected by the improved air quality policy, China's natural gas demandcontinues to grow. It is expected that the average annual growth rate willreach 8%. From 237 Bcm in 2017 to 376 Bcm in 2023, the proportion of importswill increase from the current 39% to around 45%. Mainly used in industry andhousehold fuels. Global gas demand is expected to maintain an average annualgrowth rate of 1.6%, reaching 4,000 Bcm in 2022. In addition, the reportpredicts that China's domestic natural gas production will grow at an averageannual rate of 5.5% and will reach 204Bcm in 2023, making it the fourth largestnatural gas producer in the world. Global natural gas production will reach4,116 Bcm in 2023. In terms of shale gas production, China has a large potentialbut lacks infrastructure, geological conditions, and lack of technology tolimit its shale gas production.