(Yicai Global) Nov. 20 -- Inner Mongolia Berun United Chemical will shut down its methanol production facilities for the next four months to spare natural gas for residential heating use, Eerduosi, Inner Mongolia-based Yuan Xing Energy, which owns 80 percent of the chemical plant, announced yesterday.

The natural gas-fueled plant stopped production from yesterday, and its per-month loss of production is estimated at about 50,000 metric tons and the monthly financial cost will be about CNY12.6 million (USD1.8 million), per the announcement.

Yuan Xing Energy shares [SHE:000683] traded down 0.92 percent at CNY2.16 (USD0.31), at 1.30 p.m. today.

The company has a designed methanol production capacity of 1 million tons per year, the announcement said.

An improving natural gas supply has allowed China to close fewer production facilities during the peak winter heating season this year.

Editor: Ben Armour