China pushes open access on gas grid

摘要

China’s government is renewing its commitment to lib- eralising the country’s gas transmission network by the end of this year, as part of reforms of the gas sector. The main state-controlled oil firms CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC will have to allow suppliers of unconventional gas — coal-bed methane, tight gas and synthetic natural gas — access to their pipelines in exchange for a fee set by the central government. The three firms own most of China’s major transmission lines. Unconventional gas is forecast to account for a fifth of Chinese production of 150bn m3 by 2015 (WPA, 13 January 2012, p5).