CNPC to Input Gas to its All 23 Underground Reserve Depots

CNPC’s Xiangguosi Underground Gas Reserve Depot initiated the off-season gas input operation on April 6, 2018, and this indicated that all underground reserve depots and reserve clusters belonging to CNPC entered the input and restoring stage. According to the corporate, the annual input volume is estimated to increase by 0.7 bcm from last year’s level, so as to better serve the next winter heating season with more abundant reserved resources.

CNPC, one of China’s largest oil and gas giants, takes up over 98% of China’s underground natural gas reserve capacity. BY the end of 2017, CNPC’s natural gas reserve capacity reached 40 bcm, and the peak-shaving capacity exceeded 10 bcm. In the last winter heating season, 23 reserves and reserve clusters, including 198 wells, outputted over 7.4 bcm natural gas, up 1.3 bcm Y-O-Y, and this was also the highest record in China’s natural gas industry.

Taking Xiangguosi Underground Gas Reserve Depot as an example, the depot inputted 1.54 bcm and outputted 1.62 bcm of natural gas in the last operating year. The depot plans to input 1.72 bcm and newly drill four wells this year, in order to increase its peak-shaving capacity.

From the current market condition and the implementation of multiple positive policies, China’s natural gas consumption is expected to continue the rapid expansion in 2018, and the total consumption volume is estimated to increase by over 14% from 2017. To deal with the severer peak-shaving challenge, CNPC implements four major measures to increase the gas reserve’s working capacity. First, optimize the operation of the gas reserves and matched pipeline grids, and increase the input volume via flexible gas sources and configuration. Second, use a reasonable management system to increase the efficiency of the input and output. Third, expand the existing reserves and newly build new reserves to increase the absolute capacity. Fourth, improve the production safety control to guarantee the stable and continuous input and output operation.