When the March 2011 earthquake struck Japan and ruined its Fukushima nuclear power plants, not only did it make a global impact on the use and safety of nuclear power plants and accompanying environmental and health hazards, it also altered world market dynamics in the supplies and prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

And as nations grow more increasingly alarmed and concerned over the planet's rising changing global weather patterns, it is not surprising that many will venture into the use of clean energy programs and methods. The world's second-largest economy, China, is aggressively on the race.

"China has risen to being a big LNG player," Edward L. Morse, managing director of commodities research at Citigroup Global Markets Inc., said during an energy conference on China and energy at Rice University's Baker Institute last week. "By the end of the decade, China will pass Japan as the biggest LNG importer."

China, along with emerging economy India, will both become significant buyers of LNG, Mr Morse said. The two countries' huge demand for the clean energy will eventually create an impact on global gas prices, specially on LNG.

"China became a price setter on the iron ore market within the last three years, and could (again) become a future price setter for natural gas," Mr Morse pointed out.

In a paper issued about China's role in global LNG markets, Baker Institute researchers Kenneth B. Medlock and Peter Hartley forecast Chinese demand for LNG imports will greatly influence global supply and demand, as well as market prices, by 2040.

"We can see that Asia accounts for a massive 59 per cent of global LNG demand, with China leading the way at 24 per cent of all global LNG imports," the researchers said.

"In sum, growth in supplies of natural gas from shale is a catalyst for deepening of the global natural gas market, and strong demand in Asia triggers significant growth in global LNG trade."

Resources of shale gas in China are actually abundant. But difficulties brought by technical, regulatory, and market infrastructure challenges pose hindrances to rapid development, prompting China to scout for alternative sources overseas, the Baker Institute said.

If only China could mobilize investments in shale gas more quickly and effectively than expected, its expected large LNG imports from Australia and the Middle East will greatly be reduced, researchers added.

China has announced it will be spending $473.1 billion on clean energy investments in the next five years as part of its 12th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (2011-2015). It aims for an installed solar energy capacity of 10 gigawatts by the end of the period, and targets 20 per cent of its total energy demand to be met by wind and solar by 2021.

The International Energy Agency had said China is forecast to become the world's largest energy consumer by 2035, as it will expend nearly 70 per cent energy than what the U.S. uses today.

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