China to boost gas pipeline construction

Home>>Business

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 05, 2003

China to boost gas pipeline construction

China will concentrate on constructing gas pipelines in the next 10 to 20 years, hoping to meet domestic growing demands for natural gas, said experts at a national workshop on Monday.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

China will concentrate on constructing gas pipelines in the next 10 to 20 years, hoping to meet domestic growing demands for natural gas, said experts at a national workshop on Monday.

The rapid economic development, pressure of environmental protection and the imperative need to improve energy resources infrastructure would prompt an increasing demand for natural gas, said Liu Lei, general manager of PetroChina pipeline company, at a national workshop on pipeline development and technologies.

It is predicted that gas consumption will rise at an annual rate of 7.5 percent by 2020, and the total volume will reach 55 billion cubic meters in 2005 and amount to 100 billion cubic meters in 2010.

Petroleum takes up 39.7 percent and natural gas accounts for 23.2 percent of the world's consumption of energy resources.

However, in China, gas consumption takes up only 2.5 percent in its energy structure, far less than the world average and less even than the Asian average proportion of 10.1 percent, statistics show.

As the petroleum shortage and environmental problem loom large in China, governments at various levels, oil and gas field enterprises as well as many consumers have begun to focus more on the utilization of natural gas, which is cleaner.

According to Liu, China's natural gas is mainly distributed in the central and western areas, while the annual demand in the country's eastern areas will reach 44 to 100 billion cubic meters in the next five to 10 years. The wide distance between sources of production and sales centers has impelled the acceleration of pipeline construction.

However, China's gas pipeline construction has lagged far behind developed countries, with the total length reaching 14,000 kilometers and the annual delivery capacity 32 billion cubic meters at the end of 2001.

Statistics show that the length of gas pipeline in the world has grown by 2.6 percent annually since 1995. In 1999, the United States already had 2 million kilometers of pipelines, Russia 520,000 kilometers, and Germany 360,000 kilometers.

In recent years, China has devoted more efforts to build a nationwide pipeline network for natural gas delivery.

Currently, a natural gas pipeline is being laid in the country to transport natural gas from the Tarim Basin in northwest China'sXinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the country's eastern areas. When put into operation in early 2005, the 4,000-kilometer pipeline, the longest in China, will supply 12 billion cubic meters of gas annually to China's most populous city of Shanghai and other east China areas.

In October this year, the eastern section of the 200-billion-yuan (24.1 billion US dollars) west-east natural gas pipleline project underwent a successful trial run. Natural gas ran from the Changqing gas field in northwest China's Shaanxi Province to the Baihe transfer substation in Shanghai's Qingpu District.

Questions?Comments? Click here

West-east gas pipeline commences trial operation

Shanghai receives gas via West-East Gas Pipeline

Prospects good for west-east pipeline project

Is English invading Chinese culture? ( 20 Messages)

Chinese fleet visit heart of US forces in the Pacific ( 15 Messages)

Global survey: Chinese women sexiest ( 56 Messages)

Economist: China has no need to worry about possible trade deficits ( 3 Messages)

Japanese students, teacher make apology in Xi'an ( 17 Messages)

China expects to see trade deficit in near future: official ( 9 Messages)