According to a national five-year development plan for natural gas, China aims to increase imports to 93.5 billion cubic meters and total consumption to nearly 230 billion by 2015, taking up a 7.5 percent share of primary energy consumption.

One key hurdle, identified in the plan, is the long-held price control which curbed profitability of domestic production and forced gas importers, including the country's largest gas producer, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), to sell at prices lower than their costs.

PetroChina, CNPC's listed subsidiary, reported a loss of 41.9 billion yuan on its natural gas import business in 2012, largely offsetting the profits from its domestic gas business.

Other oil and gas giants, Sinopec and CNOOC, are set to benefit from the price hikes, according to rating agencies Moody's and Fitch.

For mid-stream players in the gas industry, Fitch believes city gas distributors can pass on cost increases to a large majority of their commercial and industrial customers, who account for around 80 percent of the natural gas use in China.

Documents seen by Xinhua showed that Harbin municipal government is prepared to allow retail price of gas to rise along with the wholesale cost.

Local governments across the country will inevitably make similar decisions, said Wang, the SCI energy analyst.

"The artificially low natural gas tariff relative to other energy sources and the burden it places on natural gas suppliers is one impediment to the sustainable growth of the industry," said Moody's.

The rating agency added that China is intent to resolve the structural problems of the natural gas industry so it can develop on a more sustainable basis.