PetroChina Developing Chongqing Gas Storage
PetroChina and local firms started work September 7 on a new underground gas storage facility in Chongqing municipality in southwestern China, its parent company Chinese state CNPC said September 11, without identifying the local firms.
The Tongluoxia gas storage facility will have a capacity to store 1.5bn m3 of gas when it becomes operational in 2020, CNPC said, adding it will be able to be depleted at a rate of 9mn m3/day of gas, equivalent to daily consumption needs of 4mn households. PetroChina will have 57% stake in the project while a municipally-owned Chongqing utility along with 'private capital' will own the remaining 43%.
The Tongluoxia gas field was put into operation in May 1987, but is now heavily depleted. During the January-July 2018 period, it produced 1.688bn m3 of gas, so is being converted to a gas storage facility.
China’s gas consumption has been rising since the start of 2017 as the government aggressively implemented the coal to gas switching programme, especially in the northern part of the country. A sudden spike in consumption resulted in severe gas shortages in large parts of the country, especially in the countryside, during recent winters. To avoid such shortages in the future, the government is working on building new import terminals, pipelines and storage facilities.