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Temperatures in some parts of China are rising. But the natural gas supply in some cities is still under intense strain. Local authorities are putting restrictions on certain groups to ensure residential supply.

Gas stations in Nanjing and Hangzhou have been seeing longer and longer taxi queues. These drivers have been waiting at least an hour.

Daily natural gas consumption in Nanjing hit one-and-half- million cubic meters last week. This week, warmer temperatures eased it to 1.2 million. But the city is still 200,000 cubic meters short every day.

Nanjing's Towngas, says its Liquefied Natural Gas stock is already below one million cubic meters. The company's under pressure because it has only enough for 5 days.

Li Shenghua, Head of Gas Source Department, Towngas (Nanjing) said "We've already sent out sourcing delegations to Shanxi, Xinjiang, Shanghai and other places to buy natural gas--or we could just say, our people went out to grab as much as we could. There will be new gas deliveries to Nanjing later."

Towngas has stopped supply natural gas to its industrial clients and some gas stations.

The company is also texting its household users to ask them to cut back consumption.

Li Shenghua said "If every family could reduce natural gas consumption by point 1 cubic meter a day, our 700,000 clients could actually help save 70,000 cubic meters. That's a big number."

Meanwhile, Hangzhou's daily shortfall is over 240,000 cubic meters. The city is also cutting back the supply to some industrial, commercial and government department users.

Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province has required PetroChina to increase gas supply to the city. Local authorities are also holding coordination meetings to determine allocation.