How to develop natural gas more "confidence"

Recently, the Development Research Center of The State Council released the white paper "China Natural Gas Development Report (2019)". The report pointed out that in 2018, China solidly promoted the construction of the natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system, and gradually landed the policy mechanism, major layout and key projects, ushering in a period of strategic opportunities for the development of the natural gas industry. With the continuous maturity of the natural gas consumption market, the future industrial fuel, urban gas, power generation gas will present a "three-pillar" situation.

It is worth noting that the current development of China's natural gas industry is not coordinated and inadequate problems are still prominent, and the construction of production, supply, storage and marketing system has a long way to go. Experts suggest that we should vigorously enhance exploration and development efforts, make up for the shortcomings of gas storage and peak regulation with the construction of natural gas pipeline network, focus on promoting market system reform, accelerate the construction of natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system, and strive to achieve high-quality development of the natural gas industry.

We will improve the production, supply, storage and marketing system

In recent years, the global natural gas exploration has made continuous breakthroughs, and the natural gas supply capacity has continued to increase. International liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade is active, the integration of the world market is accelerating, the "Asian premium" is easing, the trade mode is more diversified, and the contract is more flexible, which provides more favorable conditions for the introduction of natural gas resources.

In our country, natural gas plays an important role in the energy revolution. In 2018, in accordance with the decision-making and deployment of the central government, all departments, localities and oil and gas enterprises strengthened the top-level design of natural gas development, vigorously enhanced exploration and development efforts, improved the layout of infrastructure in key regions, accelerated the interconnection of pipe networks, strengthened the weak board of gas storage capacity, improved the market mechanism, strengthened supervision and coordination, and achieved solid results in the construction of the production, supply, storage and marketing system.

More importantly, the state has intensified efforts to promote the interconnection of natural gas infrastructure and the construction of gas storage capacity, gradually improved the layout of infrastructure, and continued to advance the interconnection work. In the 2018 to 2019 heating season, connectivity projects such as "South Gas to North" achieved the goal of adding 60 million cubic meters per day of gas supply capacity, effectively guaranteeing the supply of natural gas in North China. By the end of 2018, the total length of China's natural gas trunk pipelines had reached 76,000 kilometers, with a gas transmission capacity of 320 billion cubic meters per year.

Wang Yiming, deputy director of the Development Research Center of The State Council, said that natural gas, as a high-quality energy with convenient use, high energy density, clean and low-carbon, has the potential to replace coal, oil and other high-emission fossil energy on a large scale in the next 20 years or so through deep integration and collaborative development with renewable energy. Therefore, accelerating the development of natural gas and striving to become the main energy in China will greatly increase the proportion of clean energy in China's energy structure and truly realize the upgrading of energy quality.

The problem of "stuck neck" needs to be solved urgently

Zhang Yinghong, deputy director of the Oil and gas Resources Strategy Research Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources, said that in recent years, the national policy support is strong, and the investment of oil and gas enterprises is also strengthening, with the pipeline network, reserve and other infrastructure investment and construction efforts to increase, the natural gas industry will have better development in the future.

However, the report pointed out that the construction of China's natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system still has a long way to go, the problem of uncoordinated and inadequate development of the industry is prominent, and the reform and innovation of institutional mechanisms are still facing challenges.

The report shows that rising imports of natural gas are putting pressure on energy security. From 2007 to 2018, the average annual growth of natural gas consumption in China was 19.07 billion cubic meters, the average annual growth of natural gas production was 8.28 billion cubic meters, the supply gap was expanding, and the average annual growth of natural gas imports was 10.79 billion cubic meters. In particular, the decline in international oil prices in 2014 led to a reduction in domestic exploration and development investment, and more need to rely on imports to meet consumption.