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China's 2015 Apparent Natural Gas Demand May Rise 77% (Update1)
2011-01-20 08:37:07.304 GMT
(Updates with shale gas exploration in eighth paragraph.)
By Bloomberg News
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's biggest energy
consumer, may increase apparent natural gas demand by 77 percent
in 2015 from this year as the country steps up use of cleaner-
burning fuels to curb carbon emissions.
Consumption may rise to 230 billion cubic meters in 2015
from 130 billion this year, state-controlled China National
Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil and gas producer,
said in a report today. Apparent demand takes into account
domestic output and net imports but excludes stockpiles.
Chinese energy companies, including CNPC's Hong Kong-listed
unit PetroChina Co., are boost gas output to meet demand by
starting up new domestic fields and acquiring overseas assets.
China is also expanding its capacity to receive liquefied
natural gas imports on its eastern coast and has started taking
delivery of piped gas from Turkmenistan after opening a pipeline
that runs through Central Asian countries in 2009.
Domestic gas output may rise about 11 percent this year to
105 billion cubic meters, while imports may exceed 30 billion
cubic meters, CNPC said in the report handed out to the media at
a briefing in Beijing today.
Piped gas imports may reach 15 billion cubic meters and LNG
imports may be more than 12 million metric tons, according to
the report.
CNPC plans to "intensify" purchases of global oil and gas
assets in the five years through 2015, the company said in a
statement on its website today. PetroChina made $6.9 billion of
acquisitions in countries from Australia to Singapore in the
past two years and has said it plans to spend at least $60
billion to buy assets this decade.
Shale Gas
China is boosting the use of cleaner-burning fuels,
including unconventional gas, to help meet a goal to cut carbon
emissions per unit of gross domestic product by as much as 45
percent of 2005 levels by 2020. Gas trapped in shale, coal seams
and impermeable sandstone, is collectively known as
unconventional gas.
CNPC and Statoil ASA have started preliminary exploration
for shale gas in China, and aim to produce a total of 500
million cubic meters (17.6 billion cubic feet) of the resource
by 2015, according to presentation materials handed out to the
media at the briefing.
The country's unconventional gas output will total 12
billion cubic feet a day by 2030, Gavin Thompson, director of
China gas research at consultant Wood Mackenzie, said on Nov. 25.
Shale gas output will reach 8 billion cubic feet a day by then,
he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
--Wang Ying, Chua Baizhen. Editors: Ryan Woo, Jane Lee.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ying Wang in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7562 or
ywang30@bloomberg.net;
Baizhen Chua in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7561 or
bchua14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net;
Jane Lee at +603-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net.
