Gas imports to cope with rising winter demand

China is to increase its natural gas imports to cope with rising winter demand, the country's largest oil and gas company said on Monday.

China National Petroleum Corp, which accounts for 75 percent of national gas output, said it will deliver 60.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas from November through to March 2015, a 9 percent rise compared with the same period last year as the country's energy use peaks.

Officials said the supply system has a shortfall of 2 billion cu m for the coming winter with total demand expected to hit 88.2 billion cu m.