April 27, 2020 [Nasdaq] – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) CNPET.UL has started to build a natural gas storage base in the northwestern Xinjiang region, with a total capacity of 5.6 billion cubic metres (bcm), state-backed Xinhua News reported on Monday.

 
The gas storage base, located in Shanshan county in Xinjiang, is a part of China’s planned 20 bcm natural gas centre in the northwest region. The Asian country plans to launch the storage base in 2025.

China, which has 27 gas storage bases with a peak-shaving capacity of 12 bcm, is lagging behind the target of touching 10% of its annual gas consumption.

The world’s second-largest economy now plans to launch another 23 bases to form six natural gas storage centres in the northeastern, northern, northwestern, southwestern, central western and central eastern parts of the country by 2025, with a total storage capacity reaching 27 bcm, according to Xinhua News.

China consumed 306.7 bcm of natural gas in 2019, up 9.4% from a year ago, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Beijing has also been encouraging liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to expand storage capacity and prioritise construction of underground storage tanks and large-sized LNG storages in northern costal regions to help meet the country’s growing demand for natural gas, the country’s state planning agency added.

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