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AsianOil EAST ASIA AsianOil
China upbeat over winter gas supplies
POLICY CHINA’S top economic planner, the National National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) – have
Development and Reform Commission each pledged to ramp up supplies of the fuel.
(NDRC), has said the country natural gas sup- State-owned CNPC said on November 19
plies will be enough to meet demand during the that listed arm PetroChina would increase
peak winter heating season. gas supplies during the winter heating season
The country increased its available gas by 11.3% y/y to 98.67 bcm. It added that the
resources for the season – which runs from peak-shaving volume of PetroChina’s gas stor-
November 15 to March 15 – by 5bn cubic metres age would climb by 15.5% y/y. Reuters quoted
over last year’s levels, NDRC spokeswoman an unnamed company spokesperson in Octo-
Meng Wei said on November 19. ber as saying that the company had pumped 6%
She added that national demand for the fuel more gas into its underground storages, which
had spiked 14.6% year on year in the first 11 days amounted to 9.06 bcm by the end of September.
of November, without providing a comparative Sinopec, meanwhile, has committed to sup-
figure. Meng said the commission had encour- plying 26.3 bcm, while CNOOC intends to
aged the country’s gas companies to boost their deliver 22.93 bcm this season.
domestic production and imports of the fuel. Uncertainty around supplies had emerged
Her comments came after the NDRC warned amid projections that winter demand was on
in October that guaranteeing uninterrupted track to climb by 10% this year to 148 bcm.
supplies to some areas of the country might be Sinopec gas marketing executive Meng Yadong
an issue if temperatures plunge for a prolonged reportedly told an industry event late last month
period during December and January. that seasonal demand would climb by 11.8 bcm as
The country’s Big Three – China National the economy rebounded strongly from the effects
Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Sinopec and China of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
OCEANIA
Australia OKs Santos’ Narrabri CBM project
PROJECTS & THE Australian government has approved San- occur, binding protocols identifying corrective
COMPANIES tos’ Narrabri coal-bed methane (CBM) project actions at gas wells where a groundwater exceed-
in New South Wales, paving the way for a major ance is predicted as well as a chemical risk assess-
new source of domestic gas supply. ment framework to protect the environment and
Australia Environment Minister Sussan Ley water resources during CBM operations.
said on November 24 that she had approved Canberra’s approval comes after the NSW
the proposed AUD3.6bn ($2.65bn) project Independent Planning Commission (IPC)
after having reviewed the NSW government’s green-lit the project in September, while impos-
own assessment, which imposed “strict condi- ing 134 conditions. Santos said the federal gov-
tions on clearing limits, impact mitigation and ernment’s conditions were in line with those that
rehabilitation”. the IPC had set out.
She said: “I am satisfied that the conditions, Securing Ley’s approval was the final regu-
and the staged nature of work in the area, will latory hurdle for the project, with Santos not-
safeguard the biodiversity of the Pilliga Forest.” ing that it would now conduct a 12-18 month
Those conditions include ongoing bore-mon- appraisal programme ahead of a final invest-
itoring and modelling to identify any potential ment decision (FID) on the next phase of
impacts on groundwater aquifers before they development.
Week 47 26•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
