BEIJING - Natural gas trading on the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) doubled in the first half of the year in part due to China's rising demand for clean energy.

From January to June this year, the natural gas transactions on the exchange totaled 26.74 billion cubic meters, up 109 percent from the same period last year.

Of the trading, 19.54 billion cubic meters are pipeline natural gas transactions and 4.87 million tons (about 7.2 billion cubic meters) are liquefied natural gas transactions.

In terms of the transaction price, in the first half year, the average transaction price of pipeline natural gas was 2.34 yuan ($0.34) per square meters, up 17.82 percent year-on-year.

The weighted transaction price of liquefied gas was 3,866 yuan per ton, down 3.37 percent year-on-year.

China's appetite for natural gas has swelled rapidly in recent years, in part due to environmental policies to replace coal-fired electricity generation.

The SHPGX was inaugurated in November 2016 after a year-long trial operation. By the end of 2018, it had 2,242 members, up 40 percent from a year ago.