Liaohe oilfield vows more supply for heating season

Storage facility plays major role in increasing gas production capacity

PetroChina's Liaohe oilfield gas storage in Northeast China's Liaoning province has reached a record-high cumulative gas injection volume of 3.14 billion cubic meters, 1.15 billion cu m more than the figure recorded last year.

With the largest gas storage facility in China's northeastern regions, Liaohe oilfield will further step up gas supplies for the spike in demand during the upcoming winter heating season, said Li Zhongxing, executive director of PetroChina's Liaohe oilfield.

The gas injection and production capacity at the Liaohe oilfield gas storage facility have more than doubled during the past two years, making it one of the country's six largest gas storage facilities, Li said.

Built by China National Petroleum Corp — the country's largest oil and gas producer and supplier — the Liaohe gas storage facility is responsible for the seasonal peak regulation of natural gas for Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and the northeastern regions of the country.

The gas storage facility, including seven gas storage tanks, began construction in 2019 with a total designed capacity of 28.8 billion cu m. Three gas storage tanks are currently under operation, it said.

Since 2022, its overall gas injection capacity has increased from 14 million cu m per day to 30 million cu m per day, making it the largest in China, said the company.

An analyst said China's oil and gas suppliers are making every effort to secure enough supply for the upcoming winter, from filling up storage sites to ramping up domestic gas production.

"China is accelerating its natural gas storage build-out to tackle the seasonal and geographic supply-demand imbalance, which still has massive potential to develop," said Li Ziyue, an analyst with BloombergNEF.

According to Li, the Liaohe oilfield has also been pursuing green and low-carbon development while increasing production.

As part of green transition efforts, the oilfield has been pushing forward the integration of solar, wind and geothermal power at the oilfield as the country is going full throttle on its green energy transition to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, he said.

The oilfield has installed solar panels to provide low carbon power for the pumping units as well as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) at the oilfield, to not only reduce carbon emissions at the site but also lower oil and gas production costs, said Li.

Taking advantage of the solar and wind power construction, the percentage of green power in the Liaohe oilfield is gradually increasing. The solar power facilities built on the oilfield have enabled annual generating capacity to exceed 20 million kilowatt-hours since 2021, it said.