BEIJING — China wants to import more natural gas as new cross-border gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals will be put into use, a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said on Dec 7.

“China supports domestic enterprises to increase natural gas output and at the same time to diversify imports of the resource,” said spokesperson Gao Feng at a regular news conference.

Calling imports “a significant source” of China’s natural gas supply, Gao attributed increasing imports to rising domestic demand and the improvement of infrastructure facilities.

Statistics from China’s customs showed that from January to October of this year, China’s natural gas imports rose 24.9 percent to 54.165 million tons.

Of the figure, liquefied natural gas imports surged 47.7 percent to a record high of 29.092 million tons.