Natural gas squeeze relieved in northern China: CNPC

BEIJING - A recent natural gas shortage was relieved in northern China with a shipment of liquefied natural gas, said China's largest oil and gas supplier on Tuesday.

A total of 260,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas was shipped to Tangshan in Hebei province on Sunday and then pumped into pipelines, according to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), but "appropriate" control measures on natural gas use will not be lifted for a while.

The shortage was caused by cold weather. Meanwhile, a shipment of imported liquefied natural gas was hindered by heavy fog, causing a shortage in North China, especially in Beijing, according to the CNPC.

Beijing has limited the amount of natural gas for heating public buildings and halted the supply to industrial enterprises since Saturday due to temporary scarcity.

The affected areas include workplaces, department stores and entertainment venues. The measures are part of a contingency plan to ensure heating of residential buildings in the winter.

Temperatures of public buildings will be strictly controlled, it said.

Property developer SOHO China informed its Beijing clients that the temperature in its office buildings will be set no higher than 14 degrees Celsius, as required by the authorities.