In recent years, with the large-scale development and utilization of natural gas resources in China, the consumption of natural gas has increased greatly in the fields of power generation, civil use, transportation and chemical industry.In addition, countries attach more importance to the green and low-carbon economy, the development of natural gas has jumped to a new level.

Natural Gas Industry 'resilient' in 2020

"The term 'resilient' can be used to describe the gas industry in 2020.Even if encounter COVID - 19 outbreak this year, oil prices plunged, clean heating policy shift, and many other "black swans" or adverse effect, in other industries to present type down the precipice, the natural gas market demand still maintain a certain growth rate, shows that the natural gas industry development of our country 'resilient,' has great potential for growth."National Development and Reform Commission price monitoring center senior economist, China oil and gas think tank alliance expert Liu Manping in an interview with the China Economic Times.

In Liu's opinion, there are three main things that will have a significant impact on China's natural gas development in 2020: first, the impact of COVID-19 epidemic;
Second, the impact of negative oil prices;Third, the asset allocation of the National Oil and Gas pipeline company has been basically completed and officially operated.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Institute of Energy Policy at Xiamen University, told The China Economic Times that China's pipeline network construction is relatively weak, and the national Oil and Gas pipeline companies need to integrate past experience and make plans to promote the construction of natural gas pipeline networks.

According to a reporter from The Economic Times, China's natural gas pipeline network and gas storage and peak regulation facilities are relatively lagged behind, and the lack of connectivity has become the most recognized constraints to the rapid development of the natural gas industry.

In The opinion of Liu Manping, although it has only been more than two months since the asset allocation of The National Oil and Gas Pipeline Network was basically completed and officially operated, there have been more or less many positive changes in the market that had not occurred before, which are specifically reflected in the following four aspects.
First, the oil and gas pipeline network facilities information disclosure to increase, from the previous passive disclosure to the present active disclosure.Second, the shipper system has been gradually developed, and the first order of national pipe network cross-regional shipping service has been completed in Anhui.Third, the reform process of integrating provincial networks into the state grid was accelerated in a market-oriented manner, with guangdong, Hainan, Hubei and other provincial networks successively incorporated into the State grid.Fourth, a number of domestic urban combustion enterprises have successively signed cooperation agreements with international LNG resource suppliers by taking advantage of open and shared LNG receiving stations and national pipeline network platforms, and the import of foreign gas sources has become more diversified.

During the 14th five-year Plan period, the natural gas industry will still be in a period of development

In Liu manping's opinion, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, domestic natural gas demand will still maintain rapid growth, and the industry will still be in a period of development, with the following five major opportunities.

First, the market supply and demand environment is relatively favorable.During the 14th five-year Plan period, the global LNG construction surplus, the global natural gas in a loose situation.However, the domestic natural gas exploration and exploitation is intensified, the diversified import system is gradually established, the emergency reserve system is constantly improved, the shortage of natural gas supply will be improved, the market supply is fully capable of meeting the domestic demand, and the overall supply and demand may be relatively loose.

Second, high-quality macroeconomic growth and continued urbanization in China will drive rigid growth in the demand for clean and low-carbon energy, including natural gas, and there is still a huge internal potential for natural gas.

Third, with the proposal of the targets of "carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2060" and the determination of the specific implementation path, the role of natural gas as a bridge in energy transformation and a supporting role in power supply will be further reflected.

Fourth, with the implementation of key policies of the oil and gas reform, the natural gas industry will enter a new development stage of "diversified competition" and "market first" from the previous stage of "resource first" and "supply first", and the dividends brought by the reform will be gradually released.

Fifth, the development of the natural gas production, supply, storage and marketing system has been accelerated, and the infrastructure for industrial development has been increasingly improved, laying a good foundation for the high-quality development of natural gas.

"Natural gas itself is a fossil fuel, only relatively clean.Although much has been achieved in recent years, the current proportion of natural gas is still small compared with coal and oil.In order to improve the system efficiency and environmental governance of the city, there are great opportunities for natural gas during the 14th five-year Plan period and there is a great space for development."Lin Boqiang said.