Natural gas market and underground gas storage development in China

摘要

Due to the revolution of the economic growth, urbanization, and low-carbon development of China, the proportion of natural gas in the national primary energy consumption has been growing rapidly in recent years. In the meanwhile, the contradiction between the supply and demand in China's natural gas market (NGM) has also been increasing gradually. Accordingly, the Chinese government has introduced a slew of policies to ease this contradiction. However, China's NGM is still facing many problems and challenges. The purpose of this study is to investigate the peak-shaving demand of the NGM in China, as well as to estimate the status and trend of underground gas storage (UGS) development for peak-shaving of the NGM. Firstly, the status and development direction of the NGM in China is discussed considering the supply and demand situation. The regional difference, the seasonal difference and the import impact are analyzed in detail to clarify the peak-shaving demand of national natural gas supply. Secondly, the status, direction, difficulties and challenges of UGS are discussed in depth. Finally, this study proposes some potential suggestions for the regulation of the NGM and the development of UGS in China.