China's bold gas plan could result in winter of discontent

Beijing

CHINA has ordered state oil companies to speed up the construction of pipelines to move natural gas to homes and factories, underscoring worries that the country's insufficient infrastructure could cause power outages during the peak winter demand period.

This winter, millions of homes across the colder northern regions of the world's second-largest economy will be heated for the first time by gas rather than coal, as part of Beijing's effort to boost clean fuel use.

But with just a month before newly installed radiators get switched on, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) warned on Thursday that supply and demand conditions could be…