China Gas LPG sales to rise sixfold by 2012

China Gas Holdings expects its sales of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to increase sixfold by 2012 to 3 million metric tons as it expands its network from 113 to 300 Chinese cities, Bloomberg reported. The company sold 500,000 metric tons of LPG in the last financial year. The expansion is due to China Gas’ recent agreement with PetroChina and will focus on cities not connected by pipelines. Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang will be among the provinces targeted. Utilities including China Gas, Xinao Gas Holdings and China Resources Gas Group have more than doubled in Hong Kong trading this year. China Gas’ Chief Financial Officer Eric Leung said,  "We have largely concentrated on our piped natural gas projects, but our supplies of LPG will allow us to move into new cities and also target suburban and rural areas which are not connected to gas pipelines." The company will invest US$29.3 million over the next three years to build bottling stations and retail outlets in targeted locations. The target revenue from LPG is US$2.6 billion by 2012, up from US$284 million from the last financial year.