BEIJING - China Natural Gas Inc is speeding up its expansion plans and looking to a Nasdaq listing as soaring crude oil prices make cleaner energies more attractive, Chief Financial Officer Guo Lihong said on Monday. 
 

The provider of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) believes China's efforts to protect its environment and reduce its reliance on coal augurs well for its growth prospects, she told a visiting group of U.S investors.
"We aim to become China's No.1 in terms of CNG filling stations within the next two or three years," Guo said.

She said the company was looking to borrow about $60 million and raise $70 million in new equity to help fund a three-stage expansion plan that has a final production goal of 1.5 million cubic metres of LNG per day.

"We have already applied for loans from Bank of China," Guo said. "The application documents are being reviewed at this moment."

Founded in 2001, Xian-based China Natural Gas was listed on the US over-the-counter (OTC) market in December 2005.

"A conversion to a Nasdaq listing can be completed as early as this summer," Guo said. "We will issue $70 million worth of new shares at that time."

The money would be used to build more filling stations to meet rising domestic demand for CNG and LPG.

The company is optimistic that natural gas will account for 11 percent of China's energy usage by 2010, up from 3 percent now.

The country's largest reserves of natural gas are located in western and north-central China, including Shaanxi province, where China Natural Gas is headquartered.

Bill Nasgovitz, a portfolio manager with Milwaukee-based Heartland Value Fund, said his $1.7 billion small-cap fund had owned shares in China Natural Gas for a couple of years.

"This company is fast-growing," said Nasgovitz. "We're doing this because natural gas is a clean fuel, and the future is bright for natural gas."

Apart from roadside stations, the company set up a subsidiary in March in the central city of Wuhan to build CNG filling stations on the Yangtze River, said Guo.

Further afield, China Natural Gas agreed with Thailand oil company PTT last July 2007 on a joint venture to build CNG filling stations in the southeast Asian country.