China’s first deep-water natural gas field has started producing gas, marking a milestone in China’s efforts both to exploit energy reserves deep under the South China Sea and to increase use of the cleaner-burning fuel. The US$6.5 billion Liwan-3 project, operated and 49% owned by Canada-listed Husky Energy Inc., is in undisputed Chinese waters about 325 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. Beijing wants to increase gas use to around 10% of China’s energy mix by 2020 from less than 5% now as part of a push to wean the country off coal, which supplies around two-thirds of its fuel and produces huge amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases. “Liwan is Husky’s largest project to date and places us inside the door of one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world,” said Chief Executive Asim Ghosh, in a news release issued here Monday to mark the first gas […]