Gazprom involved in three underground gas storage projects in China
MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - Gazprom is working with Chinese partners on three gas storage projects, the Russian gas giant's head of underground gas storage, Sergei Khan said.
"PJSC Gazprom has been helping in this area through joint work with China National Petroleum Corporation for several years already. Our exports are working on several projects to build [underground gas storage facilities (UGSF)]: based on the ShengSheng 2-1 gas reservoir in Heilongjiang province, in the Baijiu aquifers in Jiangsu province and in the Chuzhou salt caverns in Jiangsu province," Khan said in an interview with the Gas Industry magazine.
The geological conditions of the Chuzhou project are similar to those that existed in the salt layers of the Volgograd UGSF built in Russia, Gazprom Geotechnology LLC head Alexei Skvortsov said.
"Cooperation is being developed with the Langfang branch of PetroChina's research institute for oil field exploration and development on the creation of the Chuzhou UGSF in difficult geological conditions similar to those at the Volgograd UGSF as part of the engineering project commissioned by the Chinese side to build and operate the storage facility," Skvortsov said in an article.
"The Chinese government is well aware of UGSF's role in ensuring the reliability of gas supplies and energy security. Natural gas consumption in the country is characterized by extreme seasonal unevenness. As a rule, up to 60% of annual gas supplies are consumed in the five months of the heating season. In such conditions, the role of UGSFs is difficult to overestimate, which is confirmed by the country having an active government program to build storage facilities," Khan said.
China plans to build storage facilities with capacity to hold at least 16% of annual gas consumption in 2021-2025, he said. "This is also good for us, since the existence of UGSF in China will make it possible to optimize the operating conditions of our export pipeline system," Khan said.