Wuhan Mayor Ruan Chenfa said at a meeting on 24 November that his government would not allow the development of industries that consume large amounts of energy, following the natural gas crisis this month.

Natural gas has become increasingly popular since the end of 2004 when it was first introduced in the city; annual consumption increased by an annual average of 47 per cent to 420m cubic metres in 2008. By the end of this year, total consumption is expected to hit 770m cubic metres.

When demand started to exceed supply after the city’s first snow of the winter on 15 November, Wuhan Government announced a halt of supply to taxis from the following day as a measure to cope with the severe shortage. Supply of natural gas was also cut to industrial and commercial users.

The focus of the meeting was on the city’s long-term energy strategy. The mayor asked relevant government departments to predict future demand and co-ordinate the supply management of natural gas. The government also announced an investment of Rmb200m in building an emergency liquefied natural gas reserve station for the city. The station will have a capacity of 20m cubic metres, equivalent to about 10 days of emergency supplies for the city. Construction will start before the Chinese New Year and will be completed by the summer.

The government has also decided to look into the ongoing expansion of its reserve stations and supply pipes to make sure that they are operational by next winter.

Wuhan does not have local reserves of coal, oil or natural gas despite being an industrial centre with iron and steel and automobile assembly among its pillar industries.