Source: Zhongneng Media New Energy Security Strategy Research Institute Time: 2024-10-16 16:17

With the deepening of energy transformation, liquefied natural gas ( LNG) as a clean and efficient energy resource is becoming increasingly prominent in the global energy structure, and market demand continues to grow. Since the completion and production of China's first LNG receiving station, China National Offshore Oil Corporation Guangdong Dapeng LNG receiving station, was completed and put into operation in 2006, the construction of infrastructure such as LNG receiving stations in my country has accelerated. As an important part of the natural gas industry chain, LNG receiving stations are an important channel for global high-quality resources to enter my country's market, and are also the main window for domestic demand-side enterprises to connect with the global resource combination. They not only actively help Chinese enterprises allocate and optimize resources globally, Moreover, effectively improving the resource utilization efficiency of the oil and gas industry is of great significance to ensuring the safety of natural gas supply.

Current development status of LNG receiving stations in China

(I) The reception capacity of LNG receiving stations continues to improve

The " 2023 Domestic and Foreign Oil and Gas Industry Development Report" released by the China Petroleum Economic and Technological Research Institute shows that as of the end of 2023, 28 LNG receiving stations have been built in China, with an annual reception capacity of more than 116 million tons and a storage tank capacity of 18 million cubic meters. It can store 10 billion cubic meters of LNG.

On May 21, 2024, with the LNG transport ship "MACOMA" successfully berthed at the No. 1 berth of Longjiao Operation Area, Houshi Port, Xiamen Port, the 29th receiving station in mainland China, Zhangzhou LNG receiving station It was successfully put into production, filling the gap in the absence of LNG receiving stations in Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and opening up a new channel for the import of clean energy in Fujian Province. The Zhangzhou LNG project is located on the north side of Xingguwan, Longjiao She Ethnic Township, Longhai District, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province. The first phase includes three 160,000 cubic meters LNG storage tanks, and the designed LNG processing capacity is 3 million tons/year. On June 30, 6 270,000 cubic meters LNG storage tanks with global single tank capacity independently designed and built by my country - CNOOC Yancheng's "Green Energy Port" project were completed in Yancheng, Jiangsu. This marks the full completion of ****************’s largest LNG reserve base. CNOOC Yancheng's "Green Energy Port" project is located in Binhai Port Industrial Park, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. It is a key planning project for the construction of the national natural gas production, supply, storage and sales system and interconnection. The first phase of the project will build 10 large-scale liquefied natural gas storage tanks, including 4 22 The LNG storage tanks with 10,000 cubic meters and the 6 270,000 cubic meters LNG storage tanks completed this time have a total tank capacity of 2.5 million cubic meters.

It is reported that in 2024, there will be 33 LNG receiving stations in operation nationwide, with a total loading and unloading capacity of 163.04 million tons/year. In 2025, it is expected that 6 new LNG receiving stations will be put into production, 2 LNG receiving stations in operation will be expanded, and 39 LNG receiving stations will be carried nationwide, with a total loading capacity of 201.44 million tons/year. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, 11 LNG receiving stations are expected to be put into production. By the end of 2030, the national loading and unloading capacity may be added to 43.53 million tons/year, and the loading and unloading capacity will be increased to 244.97 million tons/year.

(II) The successive operation of LNG receiving stations promotes the rapid growth of LNG import capacity

The LNG receiving station is the only window for my country's LNG imports. The successive operation of LNG receiving stations has promoted the rapid growth of my country's LNG import capabilities. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, in 2023, my country's natural gas imports were 119.97 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 9.9%. Among them, LNG imports were 71.32 million tons, an increase of 12.6% year-on-year; pipeline gas imports were 48.65 million tons, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year. The proportion of LNG imports in the total natural gas import volume and the year-on-year increase in LNG import volume are both greater than that of pipeline gas. In 2023, my country once again surpassed Japan to become the world's largest LNG importer. A total of about 11 new LNG long-term contracts have begun to be implemented throughout the year, with a contract volume of approximately 6.4 million tons/year.

Judging from the LNG consumption situation, in the first half of this year, domestic LNG consumption was 19.5738 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 31.37%. The report "China Energy Outlook 2060 (2024 Edition)" released by the China Petroleum and Chemical Research Institute predicts that domestic natural gas consumption will be about 425 billion cubic meters in 2025, accounting for about 9% of primary energy; domestic natural gas demand will reach around 2040. The peak is about 610 billion cubic meters, accounting for nearly 13% of primary energy. Domestic natural gas production peaked around 2040, with a peak scale of about 310 billion cubic meters. From this, it is judged that the peak of my country's total natural gas import volume is about 300 billion cubic meters, with a large room for growth. With the increase in consumption and import volume, the scale of domestic LNG receiving stations still has a lot of room for improvement.

(III) LNG receiving stations have become more and more prominent in ensuring natural gas supply

LNG receiving stations have the functions of receiving, gasification and peak shaving in the entire natural gas industry chain, and are an important infrastructure in the industrial chain. Most of the receiving stations that have been put into operation in China are connected to the inland natural gas pipeline network, highlighting their advantages in rapid response capabilities and providing solutions to the peak-shaving problem of urban gas supply. From the perspective of natural gas supply guarantee situation, looking at the domestic natural gas market in recent years, "the off-season is not slow and the peak season is more prosperous" has become the main theme. LNG receiving stations have effectively improved the gas supply charge during peak summer and winter every year. Capacity plays an important role in improving the supply of natural gas, the operation and reception of natural gas.

Take the Dapeng LNG receiving station as an example. The gas supply from the receiving station in Guangdong Province accounts for about 40% of the natural gas consumption in Guangdong Province during the same period. More than half of the natural gas generator sets in the province are supplied by the Dapeng LNG receiving station in Guangdong. Since July this year, affected by the strengthening of the western extension of the subtropical high voltage, more than 100 warning areas in Guangdong Province have issued yellow warning signals for high temperatures, and the demand for gas and electricity has continued to rise. As the main force in natural gas supply in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Dapeng LNG receiving station received 11 ships in July, with LNG exports reaching 802,000 tons, effectively playing the role of the "pillar" of regional energy supply.

Development trend of LNG receiving stations

(I) The receiving station needs to be further fair and open

At present, China's LNG industry has formed a complete LNG industry chain and business chain of upstream natural gas production liquefaction, midstream connection, unloading, storage and transportation, and downstream comprehensive utilization. Fair and openness are the basic direction for achieving high-quality development of LNG receiving station business. From 2014 to the present, the national level has introduced a series of guiding policies and management measures involving the fair opening of LNG receiving stations, guiding oil and gas pipeline facility operators to open equally to third-party market entities, and providing transportation, storage, gasification, liquefaction, compression, etc. Serving and carrying out special supervision on the implementation of fair and open LNG receiving stations. Under the guidance of national policies, the fair and open process of LNG receiving stations is more reasonable and efficient, the fair and open information is more sound and transparent, and the fair and open mechanism is more standardized and orderly. At the same time, relevant companies have actively explored and practiced, forming different open models. For example, the receiving stations affiliated to the National Pipeline Network Group implement a fair and open model, constantly explore and enrich the fair and open business practices of facilities, promote the fair opening of oil and gas pipeline infrastructure to the whole society, and provide a unified transportation platform for all market participants. China Petroleum took the lead in opening the window period of LNG receiving stations to third parties through offline negotiations. China National Offshore Oil Corporation has opened the window period to China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, Zhejiang Energy Group and Xinao Group through offline negotiations. China National Offshore Oil Corporation has explored and implemented the window period open bidding. .

Overall, the number of receiving stations that have been fully opened to third parties in my country is still limited, and the window period is still a scarce resource. In the future, LNG receiving stations need to change to a more fair and open situation. On the basis of fair and openness, LNG receiving stations can give full play to the platform empowerment role of receiving stations, vigorously cultivate upstream and downstream market entities, reduce costs in the intermediate links, guide more upstream high-quality natural gas resources to enter the Chinese market, and help domestic urban gas burning Demand-side enterprises such as power generation and trade connect with more high-quality overseas LNG resources, so that more downstream small and medium-sized natural gas users can achieve low-cost resource procurement and logistics distribution to meet the rapidly growing consumer demand, and achieve acceptance while helping the development of the natural gas industry. The site's own business scale and operational efficiency are growing simultaneously.

(II) The storage function of the receiving station will be further revealed

In 2023, the effective working gas volume of my country's gas storage reservoirs was about 23 billion cubic meters, accounting for less than 6% of my country's total natural gas consumption. The proportion of gas volume in gas storage in natural gas consumption represents to a certain extent the gas storage peak shaving capacity of a natural gas market. The global average of this proportion is about 11%. In comparison, my country's development in gas storage construction is relatively lagging behind. Compared with gas storage, the location selection of LNG storage tanks is relatively flexible, with a short construction period and higher mobility.

With the continued growth of the reception capacity of LNG receiving stations and the fair opening of receiving stations is becoming normalized, in order to make full use of the storage tank facilities of LNG receiving stations, the National Pipeline Network Company and Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Trading Center have successively launched LNG receiving station window products and LNG storage products. , provide LNG resource import and storage services to the market, and improve seasonal peak regulating capabilities. From the perspective of tank capacity, the tank capacity of domestic LNG factories and reserve stations is mostly 5,000 to 30,000 cubic meters, while the storage tanks of LNG receiving stations are often more than 200,000 cubic meters, which has stronger resource storage capabilities. From the perspective of consumption locations, according to statistics, in 2023, LNG consumption in the nine coastal provinces including Shandong, Hebei, and Guangdong accounted for more than 40% of the total domestic consumption, and the eastern region with a developed economy and high population density will be subject to natural gas in the eastern region, which has a high economic and high population density. The demand for resource peak shaving is greater, and the storage tank of the LNG receiving station can achieve peak shaving and gas supply nearby, which is consistent with the mainstream domestic consumption areas. In view of the domestic reserve and peak-shaving demand situation, LNG receiving station storage tanks may transform more into reserve peak-shaving facilities, which will lay a good foundation for the stable supply and price stability of the domestic natural gas market in the later period.

(III) The receiving station needs to continuously optimize operations and innovate business models

With the increase in the number of LNG receiving stations in China and the increase in the reception capacity, market competition intensifies and the load rate decreases, thus affecting economic benefits. According to relevant data, from 2021 to 2023, the average utilization rate of domestic receiving stations was 78%, 59% and 51%, respectively, showing a year-on-year decline. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period and in the following period, although my country's resource supply companies actively purchase imported LNG resources to meet the growing domestic natural gas demand, the remaining available space for LNG receiving stations is still relatively large after deducting the implemented resources.

In addition to the reserve function mentioned above, the remaining production capacity of the receiving station can also be used for various purposes such as bonded transshipment and futures delivery. For example, in February this year, the first LNG bonded warehouse in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was officially put into use. The implementation of this innovative model is expected to attract while enriching the functions of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei port and better playing the role of LNG supply guarantee in the receiving station in winter. More Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei enterprises are developing diversified LNG business. Against the backdrop of rapid development of the domestic natural gas industry and intensified market competition, LNG receiving station operators have accelerated market-oriented operations based on the company's own situation, and through in-depth cooperation with upstream and downstream enterprises and trading centers, they can revitalize the supply of upstream resources and promote downstream market resources. Implement, actively explore business types such as matching transactions, tank volume and window transactions, bonded delivery, etc., expand business models, and optimize the operation of receiving stations. This is also an inevitable way to improve the utilization efficiency of receiving stations and improve the return on investment of infrastructure.

Editor-in-charge: Wang Ping