Natural gas industry chain analysis

Overview of the whole industrial chain of natural gas

1. Product types and characteristics of the whole industrial chain of natural gas

Natural gas is mainly divided into two categories: natural gas stored in nature and artificial natural gas (such as coal gas generated by coking and oil and gas generated in the process of petroleum refining), in which natural gas is mainly stored, and the volume of artificial synthetic gas is small. Natural gas flow is mainly divided into gaseous natural gas and liquid natural gas two forms. Due to the relatively low scale of China's natural gas reserves, China's proved natural gas reserves ranked 11th in the world in 2016, only 11% of Iran, which can not meet the domestic demand for natural gas. Therefore, China's natural gas market still needs to be supplemented by imported natural gas. In order to facilitate long-distance transportation, gaseous natural gas is usually processed into liquefied natural gas (" LNG ") under normal pressure and low temperature (-160 ° C), and the gas content of one ton of liquefied natural gas is equivalent to 1400~1500 cubic meters of gaseous natural gas. In areas where there is no pipeline through, gaseous natural gas can be pressurized into cylinders to form compressed natural gas (" CNG "for short) to achieve small distribution. Although natural gas products exist in different phase states, from the perspective of molecular structure, its main component is a carbon compound ----- methane (CH4). Its chemical properties are similar, only the storage forms or ways are different.

Natural gas has the characteristics of high calorific value, low carbon emission and high economy. From the perspective of calorific value, the average calorific value of 1 cubic meter of gaseous natural gas under normal pressure is 8,800Kcal, and the calorific value of 1 ton of LNG is about 12,496Kcal (assuming that 1 ton of LNG is 1,450 cubic meters/ton of gaseous natural gas), and the calorific value of LNG is 2.72 times, 1.23 times and 1.25 times of coal, diesel and fuel oil of the same weight. From the perspective of carbon emissions, the carbon emissions of the same weight of LNG are 0.78 times, 0.76 times and 0.72 times of coal, diesel and fuel oil. From the economic point of view, in addition to coal, the price of natural gas unit Kcal heat is the lowest, about 2.96*10-4 yuan /Kcal. Therefore, compared with other energy sources, natural gas, as a low-carbon clean energy, safe and efficient energy, is more in line with the current and future energy requirements of China.

2. Coverage of the whole industrial chain of natural gas

China's whole natural gas industry chain involves the production, trade, transportation, storage and sales of natural gas. There are many and complicated links. According to upper, middle, downstream and end customers, the natural gas industry chain can be divided into: In terms of upstream gas sources, China's natural gas source structure is dominated by the exploitation of self-owned natural gas reservoirs, supplemented by imported gas (including imported pipeline gas and imported LNG). However, due to the difference in the growth rate of gas supply, the proportion of gas source structure will change, among which the proportion of imported gas will gradually increase, and the proportion of self-produced gas will decrease. In midstream storage and transportation, imported pipeline gas and self-produced gas enter China and are transported to each province through backbone pipelines, and provincial pipelines enter each city. During this period, part of pipeline gas is processed into LNG by liquefaction plants and transported by tanker to areas without pipeline laying. After LNG enters the Chinese market through the receiving station, part of it is gasified into the backbone pipeline, and part of it is transported to the distribution facility by tank trucks. In this link, gas storage is set up for natural gas storage and peak regulation. In the downstream distribution link, the pipeline gas enters the city and then enters the downstream users through the municipal pipeline; LNG transported by tankers is sold to downstream automotive and industrial users through filling stations. The end users of natural gas are mainly residential users, industrial users and automobile users, of which residents mainly use natural gas for heating, industrial users use natural gas for heating or synthetic basic chemicals, fertilizers, etc., and auto gas is mainly used to provide kinetic energy for various types of vehicles.

According to the differences of product forms in the industrial chain, the natural gas industry chain can be divided into two chains: gaseous natural gas chain, the two main gas sources of natural gas, natural gas and imported pipeline gas, enter the consumption province through backbone pipelines and provincial pipelines, and then transported to the user end through urban pipelines; Liquefied natural gas chain, imported LNG as a liquefied natural gas gas source into the country through the receiving station, and then transported to the refueling station through the LNG tanker. The two chains are not parallel and have no intersection. For example, some LNG enters the backbone pipeline after gasification at the receiving station. Pipeline natural gas is converted into LNG after liquefaction through liquefaction plants and enters the liquid chain. In addition to the different phases of the natural gas industry chain, the pricing methods of each product are also different. The price of gaseous natural gas in the industry chain is mainly regulated by the state, while the price of liquefied natural gas is relatively market-oriented.