A technician checks an equipment at a natural gas plant in Xining, Qinghai Province, in this file photo. China’s natural gas output totaled 15.7 billion cubic meters last month, rising 7.1 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).  Imports of natural gas rose 22.7 percent from a year earlier to 10.62 million tons in the first nine months of the year. Xinhua