July 4 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, may face a “short-term” natural gas oversupply after 2010 because of increased domestic output and imports of the fuel, a PetroChina Co. official said.

Natural gas supply in China may increase by an average 20 billion cubic meters a year starting 2010, Ma Xinhua, deputy head of PetroChina’s exploration and development unit, said at an energy conference in Beijing today. The nation should boost its capacity to store the fuel for emergency use, Ma said.

China wants to increase use of cleaner-burning fuels such as natural gas as an alternative to coal to curb pollution and reliance on oil imports. The nation is building a second pipeline to move natural gas from Central Asia and plans at least 10 terminals to import liquefied gas from suppliers including Australia, Qatar and Malaysia.

“The oversupply will remain temporary as demand is still robust,” Ma told reporters.

China should speed pricing reforms and increase prices of the fuel as importing costs are higher, Ma added.

PetroChina, the nation’s biggest oil company, may produce 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas from its Tarim fields in the northwestern province of Xinjiang in 2020, compared with an estimated 30 billion cubic meters in 2015, Wang Zhaoming, general manager of the field, said at the same conference today.

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Last Updated: July 4, 2009 05:07 EDT