China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said the country consumed a total of 14.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas last month, a 10 percent rise from the same period last year.

The rise in natural gas consumption in China, however, did not come as unexpected considering that the government has been promoting the use of clean energy to address heavy air pollution in the country. 

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The NDRC said China will continue to consume more natural gas this year than in the previous years and domestic sources will not be enough to satisfy the country's quest for clean energy sources.

Coal continues to be widely used around the country, resulting to heavy air pollution that has affected China's economy.

According to the NDRC, China's natural gas consumption for the first two months of this year has already totaled 31.9 billion cubic meters, a 7.3 percent increase from the previous year.

The report released by the NDRC also showed that China imported 4.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas in February while another 10.3 billion cubic meters were taken from domestic sources.

Last year, the country imported a total of 53 billion cubic meters of natural gas, an increase of 25 percent from 2012 as natural gas consumption went up 13.9 percent during the year.

Based on the figures last year, China is now the world's third-largest natural gas user. However, natural gas only accounted for 5.9 percent of total energy consumption last year.

China has invested a total of US$13bn last year to explore oil and gas resources. The figures released by the Ministry of Land and Resources showed that money spent on exploration of oil and gas fields rose from 19 billion yuan in 2002 to 67.3 billion yuan in 2011.