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Gas shortage 'to end by 2015'

China's shortage of natural gas may end by 2015, when sizable imports begin to enter the country, according to a researcher at China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Wednesday.

Domestic production of the fuel will trail demand by 40 billion to 80 billion cubic meters (cu m) by 2015, up from a deficit of some 25 billion cu m in 2010, according to Xu Bo, a researcher with CNPC's Research Institute of Economics and Technology.