Cost and risk factors of midstream storage and transportation of natural gas industry chain

Storage link

The main infrastructure of natural gas storage mainly includes gas storage, LNG receiving station, CNG gas storage station, etc. At present, the existing gas storage facilities in service in China have the characteristics of resource dependence and single management subject.

According to the plan, in the future, China will establish an emergency peaking infrastructure system based on underground gas storage and coastal LNG receiving stations, supplemented by intensive and large-scale LNG storage tanks in key inland areas.

I. Cost

1. Underground gas storage

The underground gas reservoir forms natural gas reservoir by injecting natural gas back into the underground space. The excess natural gas is stored in the off-season of gas supply and produced in the peak of gas consumption to supplement the shortage of gas supply network. At present, it is developing in the direction of integrating the functions of strategic reserve and emergency peak balancing.

The underground gas storage is positioned as a part of the transmission and distribution pipe network system, which plays a role in ensuring the security of supply, and the economic attribute is not obvious. Its investment subjects include upper and middle stream integrated enterprises, downstream urban fuel enterprises and consortiums. As the site selection and investment of underground gas storage are highly dependent on the upstream mining end, the construction and operation of upper and middle stream enterprises is the main mode. Before the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", the main body of gas storage construction and operation was only CNPC. At present, there are 25 underground gas storage in China, of which 23 are operated by CNPC.

In terms of development costs, CNPC recently announced that it plans to build eight new gas storage tanks in the Sichuan and Chongqing region in three stages, with a total investment of more than 21 billion yuan, reflecting the high investment cost of underground gas storage infrastructure.

Because the gas storage business is not open to the outside world, it cannot operate independently, the degree of commercialization is low, the profit model is relatively simple, some projects need the support of financial subsidies, and there are 12 gas storage tanks in the country that are 100% supported by the state finance.

2. LNG receiving station

Coastal and inland LNG terminals accept LNG from LNG liquefaction plants, store and re-vaporize it for distribution to users. It is mainly composed of ship unloading system, LNG storage system, gasification/transportation system, evaporation gas treatment system, flare/vent system, metering system, water supply and drainage, sewage system, nitrogen system, air compressor station, fuel gas system, etc.

At present, the domestic and international LNG receiving station project process is relatively mature, the system is stable, from the project to the completion and production time is about 3 years, the design life is generally 25 years, the operation process also includes water, electricity and auxiliary materials, labor costs, depreciation, repair costs and other taxes, including the construction period of 3 years, including the after-tax investment recovery period of about 9 years.

According to the public information of the enterprise, the construction cost of the domestic LNG receiving station is calculated at 3 million tons/annual capacity, and the investment is about 6.6-7 billion yuan.

2. Risk factors

The growth of gas storage is slow. The peak load capacity of China's gas storage is weak, and the growth is expected to be relatively slow, which can not keep up with the rapid growth of consumer demand. At present, the domestic underground gas storage investment subject is single, the degree of commercialization is low, open market-oriented operation is the inevitable choice to accelerate its development, in the process of reflecting the cost of gas storage price is the key factor, at this stage, the relevant policies have not been issued, the policy space is not clear. In addition, another important factor restricting the large-scale growth of China's gas storage is that the development threshold is high, there are fewer suitable high-quality storage sites in China, the site selection and construction is difficult, the core equipment and technology of relevant independent property rights are missing, and the relatively mature underground gas storage development capacity is in the hands of a few enterprises.

Competition in the LNG business has intensified. With the rapid growth of consumption and imports, based on the bullish expectations of natural gas consumption and the support of relevant state departments for the construction of gas storage infrastructure, the market is generally optimistic about the LNG import storage and reception link. China gradually ushered in the construction boom of LNG receiving stations, and the main investors also showed a diversified trend.

Non-" three barrels of oil "enterprises, currently have approved project capacity of about 10 million tons/year, Xinjiang Guanghui, ENN Energy and so on; About 4-9 million tons/year are Huaying Petrochemical, Huadian Group, Pacific Oil and Gas, etc.; About 1 million to 3 million tons/year are Fujian Investment Group, Zhongtian Energy, Shenneng Group, Baota Petrochemical, Zheneng Group, Deep Burn Group, Guangdong Yuedian, Ningbo Power, Shenzhen Energy, Beijing Control, Chaozhou Huafeng, Nanshan Group, etc.; Within 1 million tons/year, there are Guangzhou Gas, Hebei Natural Gas, Jiangsu Guoxin, Guangye Investment, Jiufeng Energy, Dalian Construction Investment, Tianjin Gas, Hengrongda, Ying An Industrial, etc.