How to develop natural gas more "confidence"

At the same time, ecological protection also puts forward higher requirements for the high-quality development of natural gas. Oil and gas resource rich areas and important ecological function areas, ecological environment sensitive and vulnerable areas objectively overlap, coupled with the current laws and policies lack of detailed regulations on the classification control of production and construction activities in environmentally sensitive areas, oil and gas production and construction activities in environmentally sensitive areas are restricted.

Insufficient gas storage capacity and market mechanism have become the two major weaknesses restricting the development of the industry. With the acceleration of the construction of natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system and the successive issuance of policy documents in the field of gas storage and peak regulation, the construction of gas storage facilities has begun to concentrate, but subject to the long construction period of underground gas storage and LNG storage tanks, it is expected that there is greater pressure for gas storage capacity to meet the standard on time. With the gradual push of institutional reform, the "rapid development period" and "reform pain period" of the natural gas industry are superimposed, coupled with incomplete supporting policies, and the game of the upper, middle and downstream market players is becoming increasingly fierce.

"The most prominent problem in the natural gas industry at present is that the gas supply regulation ability is seriously lagging behind, the upstream supply market players are too few, and the cost of the entire industrial chain needs to be further reduced." Zhang Yuqing, former deputy director of the National Energy Administration.

"The 'stuck neck' problem of upstream exploration and development of natural gas needs to be broken; The dependence of natural gas on foreign countries is rising too fast, which makes the security risk of supply obviously intensified. The construction of gas storage facilities lags behind the growth of demand, resulting in insufficient gas storage capacity; The market mechanism is not smooth, resulting in high gas prices for end users is still a prominent problem." Wang Yiming said that if these problems are not solved, it is likely to have a serious impact on the long-term development of natural gas.

To increase storage and production requires vigorous exploration

Developing natural gas into one of China's main energy sources is an important part of building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system.

From the perspective of future trends, natural gas accounts for 23% of the world's energy consumption structure, which is still the only fossil energy source to grow in the future, and the International Energy Agency (IEA), BP and other institutions predict that natural gas will surpass coal to become the second largest energy source around 2035.

Li Ye, regulatory director of the National Energy Administration, said that in 2018, the external dependence of natural gas exceeded 40%, and the energy security situation was relatively severe. To accelerate the construction of a natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system, the key is to enhance exploration and development capabilities. We should not only firmly position natural gas as the main energy source, but also increase domestic storage and production. We should also further accelerate the implementation of projects to strengthen weaknesses, and coordinate the construction of natural gas pipelines, natural gas receiving stations, underground gas storage, emergency gas storage and regulatory facilities. Strengthen the interconnection of infrastructure, enhance the ability to ensure the supply of natural gas, and effectively promote the high-quality development of natural gas.

Hao Fang, president of China University of Petroleum (East China) and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also believes that to ensure the high-quality development of the natural gas industry, it is necessary to promote all-round reform and innovation, but the most basic is to increase oil and gas exploration efforts, especially to increase natural gas exploration efforts, and solve the core problem of increasing storage and production.

The report recommends that at present, we should plan the major layout of the construction of natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system, make every effort to build a natural gas production base in the Sichuan Basin, make every effort to build a major natural gas production area in the Ordos Basin and Xinjiang region, make every effort to build an offshore natural gas production base, strive to "fully blossom" the exploration and development of unconventional natural gas, and accelerate the construction of regional underground gas storage groups. We will strive to build a natural gas supply guarantee system around the Bohai Sea. At the same time, it is necessary to orderly develop alternative energy sources, increase the construction of demonstration projects on the basis of existing coal-to-gas production capacity, and promote the implementation of strategic technology reserve and capacity reserve tasks. Focus on supporting the development of bio-natural gas clean heating in northern rural areas, and strive to achieve breakthroughs in bio-natural gas production.