PetroChina Prepares for Winter Gas Demand
With winter just around the corner China’s largest energy company PetroChina is preparing to supply sufficient gas to meet demand, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) said in a report October 11. SASAC is responsible for managing China’s state-owned companies.
Imported gas will play a vital role in meeting the winter demand and according to SASAC, PetroChina will focus on fully utilising its three LNG terminals at Jiangsu, Tangshan and Dalian by increasing its procurement of LNG, especially on the spot market. In addition to LNG imports China also imports gas from central Asia and Myanmar via pipelines.
During the winter season, which runs from November to March, PetroChina’s Jiangsu terminal is expected to supply 3.3bn m3 of regasified LNG while Tangshan terminal is likely to supply 4.1bn m3, SASAC said without giving any figure for the third terminal at Dalian; it did not specify how much gas these terminals supplied during the last winter season.
Regarding pipeline imports, SASAC said that the central Asia pipeline supplied 33.9bn m3 of gas during the first eight months of 2018, 66% of annual planned volume. The Myanmar pipeline transported 3bn m3 of gas, 59% of that planned for the year.
China’s gas consumption has been trending higher since early-2017 thanks to the government's aggressive policy of switching from coal to gas. Some areas in the north of the country faced severe gas shortages last winter. The government is working to ensure that this situation is not repeated this winter.