Chinese regulators warned that the nation may face a “harsh” supply situation this winter if natural gas supplies can’t keep up with its booming demand.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has ordered state oil companies to speed up the construction of pipelines to move natural gas to homes and factories, underscoring worries that the country's insufficient infrastructure could cause power outages during the peak winter demand period.

Global oil demand growth will slow to a crawl and gasoline use will peak within the next decade, prompting the the world’s biggest energy companies to accelerate the shift to natural gas and chemicals, according to consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd.

India’s biggest gas utility plans to use some of the liquefied natural gas it gets from the U.S. to restart three idled fertilizer plants, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Since the first shale gas export terminal opened in Louisiana last year, America’s drillers have seen at least 75 cargoes of their fuel sail through the Panama Canal bound for markets in Asia.

BHP Billiton Ltd.’s new Chairman Ken MacKenzie is grappling with a simmering campaign by activist shareholders -- moving too far to appease them could risk unsettling debt investors who own the world’s biggest miner’s $24 billion of bonds.