Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 41 2022

AsiaElec SUPPLY AsiaElec

China pursues oil and

gas projects to ensure

winter supply

CHINA CHINA is pursuing a programme to push ahead months of this year produced 24.69mn tonnes
with domestic oil and gas projects to ensure it has of hydrocarbons, an increase of 1mn tonnes
sufficient energy supplies in the coming winter, over the same period last year, according to the
according to a report in China’s English language report.
daily Global Times and other regional media. In northern China, State Power Investment
As European countries and others scramble to Corporation’s Inner Mongolia branch is ship-
secure oil and gas supplies in the midst of inter- ping 2mn tonnes of coal throughout the Inner
national sanctions against Russia, a major world Mongolia Autonomous Region and the adjacent
energy supplier, China is keen to avoid the chill Jilin and Liaoning provinces.
of past winters, when some regions were left in The report also pointed out that an expan-
the cold. These efforts include coal distribution, sion of the LNG regasification terminal at Yang-
which China has tried to cut back on in previous shan Deep Water Port has been approved. Some
winters, but with energy shortage consequences. $2.38bn will be invested to expand capacity by
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Centre for 6mn tonnes per year (tpy) by 2030.
Energy Economics Research at Xiamen Univer- The South China Morning Post reported last
sity, said China’s energy supply is generally bal- week that China is planning a major expansion
anced and stable and the winter energy supply is for receiving LNG. The report cites a draft plan
ensured, the Global Times reported. issued by the Ministry of Transport in 2019 that
The report noted several projects in China calls for the construction of 34 coastal LNG-re-
that are moving forward regarding production ceiving terminals and the addition of 224bn
and logistics, particularly ultra-deep drilling cubic metres of receiving capacity by 2035, more
in the Fuman and Tarim fields. Oil and gas than double China’s current capacity.
production has exceeded 10mn tonnes in the At the end of last year, China was operating
Fuman area, according to Global Times. Fuman 22 LNG terminals with a capacity of 92.27mn
is located within the Tarim Basin and covers a tonnes. In its 2021-25 five-year plan, expand-
17,000-sq km area, with oil and gas resources ing gas storage facilities such as LNG terminals
estimated at more than 1bn tonnes. Forty-five is a prime way to improve China’s flexibility for
wells, some reaching depths of 10,000 metres, ensuring energy supply.
have been drilled in the field during this year China is already the world’s largest importer
with a 95% success rate, making it the fastest of LNG, surpassing Japan last year. It considers
developed deep oilfield in China, the report said, natural gas a key transition fuel away from coal.
citing the China National Petroleum Corpora- The country plans to hit its carbon emissions
tion (CNPC). peak in 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2060.™
The Tarim oilfield has during the first nine

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 12•October•2022