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China, the third largest oil-importing nation after the United
State and Japan, is planning to step up its natural gas
exploitation, said Xia Honghui, general manager of the Southwestern
Oil-Gas Subcompany under the China National Petroleum Corporation
(CNPC) Tuesday.
Xia, a deputy to the current First Session of the 10th National
People's Congress (NPC), said his company is expected to launch a
new round of exploration of large-scale natural gas fields in
China's vast western regions. With a total ascertained deposit of 2
trillion cubic meters, the four major oil-gas fields, located in
the vast arid areas in western China, are the Sichuan Basin, Tarim
and Ordos basins in westernmost Xinjiang, and the Qaidam Basin in
Qinghai Province, also in northwestern China.
"We are striving to make new breakthroughs in natural gas
exploitation in western China," said Xia.
According to authoritative sources, China is striving to increase
the annual natural gas output from current 30-odd billion cubic
meters to anywhere from 80 billion to 100 billion cubic meters in
the coming seven years, so as to ease its reliance on domestic oil
and oil imported. The laying of the complete networks of natural
gas pipeline is in full swing across the country.
It
is calculated that approximately 1,200 cubic meters of natural gas
is equivalent to one ton of crude and some 100 billion cubic meters
of gas would then amount to 80 million-plus tons of crude oil.
"This would be equal to half of China's current annual crude oil
output, exceeding the total amount of crude oil the country has
imported annually," said Xia, adding that natural gas would play a
critical role in ensuring the country's energy safety.
At
present, China produces about 160 million tons of crude oil and
imports approximately another 70 million tons every year.
China launched a gigantic project of piping natural gas from west
to east last year, with a combined investment of more than 200
billion yuan (about US$24 billion). Through the pipeline networks,
natural gas from the Tarim Basin in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region will be piped to Shanghai, more than 4,000
kilometers away in east China. The project is expected to be
completed in 2003.
In
addition, China is expected to pave natural gas pipelines from
Chongqing municipality at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to
the cities of Wuhan and Changsha in central China this year, with a
cost of between 6 billion and 7 billion yuan (anywhere from US$720
million to US$840 million)
Economists hold that the economic rim around Wuhan City is of the
greatest development potential after the Yangtze River Delta and
the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Delta. However, a sustained economic
growth needs the support of adequate energy supply.
Currently, China mainly uses natural gas as fuel in household
cooking and public transportation, with a view of improved
environmental protection. In Beijing, the pipeline gas has now been
available to many residential areas, and a large number of buses
with natural gas as their fuel are running on streets around the
city.
Moreover, in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern Sichuan Province,
natural gas has replaced petroleum on a large scale. More than 100
gas filling stations have been emerged in the city.
(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2003)
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