CORRECTED - CORRECTED-Sinopec's gas output to jump 50 pct in 2010 -exec

(Corrects figures in first paragraph to 12-13 billion cubic metres, not 1.2 to 1.3 billion cubic metres)

SHANGHAI Nov 17 (Reuters) - Sinopec (0386.HK), Asia's top refiner and China's second-largest oil and gas producer, expects its natural gas output to jump about 50 percent to 12-13 billion cubic metres (bcm) next year, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

This year's gas output is expected to exceed 8 bcm, Xie Dan, vice president of Sinopec Gas Co, told reporters on the sideline of an industry conference.

The projected jump in output will come mainly from its Puguang gas project, which started operation last month and will go into full operation next month, said Xie.

Puguang is Sinopec's (600028.SS) largest gas project and has a production capacity of 12 bcm a year. Its gas will reach Shanghai, China's financial hub, in December, Xie said.

Operation started in October in Puguang, Sinopec's largest gas project in landlocked southwestern province of Sichuan.

Xie also said the plan to build a terminal for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Qingdao is being reviewed by China's top economic planner and is expected to launch operations by 2013.

The company is also preparing to build a terminal in Macau, and in Beihai in the southern region of Guangxi, each with an annual receiving capacity of 3 million tonnes, Xie said.

China has trying to push for use of natural gas, more efficient and cleaner than coal, which makes up the bulk of China's primary energy use.

China's natural gas consumption has been growing at double-digit rates for the past few years, but industry officials said the growth is likely to slow in the next few years.

"With a number of LNG projects, the second West-to-East gas pipeline, the volume of imported natural gas will grow quickly in the next few years," Xie told the conference, adding that the annual supply of natural gas is expected to increase by 2 bcm a year.

Demand from industrial users may weaken due to rising prices and the introduction of alternative energy forms, Xie said.

"Some regions may see an oversupply of natural gas," he said.

Central and eastern Chinese provinces were facing the worst natural gas shortage in years as supplies were diverted to snowstorm-hit northern China, while producers lacked incentives to expand output because of poor margins, a state broadcaster said on Tuesday. [ID:nPEK31821] (Reporting by Rujun Shen and Edmund Klamann; Additional reporting by David Lin; Editing by Ken Wills)