Wuhan Government announced on 15 November that all the fuel stations in the city would stop supplying natural gas to taxis from the following day as a measure to cope with a severe supply shortage. Supply of natural gas will also be cut among industrial and commercial users, the first tranche involving 56 manufacturing companies.

Wuhan has a daily supply of 1.5m cubic metres of natural gas but demand can exceed 2.1m cubic metres as the winter sets in. The city’s first snow of the winter fell on 15 November.

The government has promised taxi drivers a daily subsidy of Rmb100 for each car as long as the ban is in place. About 8,300 petrol-fuelled taxis in Wuhan have been converted to run on natural gas. Residential users have been told that their supplies will be guaranteed.