China urges top refiners to increase LPG output

China's top economic planner has urged the country's top two oil refiners to step up liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production to ease recent sharp prices for the cooking fuel, the central television said on Friday.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) sets guiding prices for LPG by aiming to keep the price of No.90 gasoline at around 92 percent of the LPG price, Xu Kunlin, a senior pricing official at the agency told state television CCTV.

Even though this month LPG prices in many regions have risen by about 1,000 yuan ($146.4) per tonne, or 30 percent, they are still within the government's price range, Xu said.

"But we have been paying close attention to the recent price rises and we issued circulars to local governments to urge them to take measures to resolve it," Xu said, according to CCTV.

"We also called meetings with (state oil firms) CNPC and Sinopec and asked them to step up operations to increase supplies," he added.

The appeal has had an immediate impact and production has increased remarkably in the past couple of days, he said.

"LPG refinery gate prices dropped by 200 to 400 yuan per tonne this week," Xu told the state TV station.

The official blamed the recent LPG price rises on lower imports and less production incentives for refiners due to the government's motor fuel price cuts.

Beijing said earlier this year it would improve its natural gas pricing mechanism this year, which analysts interpreted as a gradual increase in prices and unification of pricing rules that vary by region, industry and category of consumer.

Guangzhou, capital of China's leading exporting region Guangdong, raised natural gas prices for commercial and industrial users by 23-31 percent in July, a move that other regions in China could follow as the country is expected to unveil a revamped gas pricing system.