Natural gas does not seem to be reaping much benefit from China's crackdown on dirty coal-fired power plants. Although output from coal stations fell in 2015 for the second year in a row, gas supply to power stations remained 'stable,' the China Electricity Council (CEC) said. The big winners were nuclear and renewables, particularly solar, judging by the CEC data. A slightly more optimistic reading comes from China National Petroleum Corp., the country's biggest gas producer: The state giant said in a recent report that the power sector used 31.9 billion cubic meters (3.1 billion cubic feet per day) of gas in 2015, 8.7% more than a year earlier, and power demand accounted for nearly 16% of overall gas consumption. It also said the cost of producing electricity from gas-fired plants tumbled 18%-20% to 0.57 yuan-0.64 yuan (8.70-9.80) per kilowatt hour in 2015.
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