Construction begins on China's first large-scale coal-gas project

On August 30, construction on China's first large-scale coal-gas demonstration project began in Inner Mongolia. Once it is completed in 2012, it will provide four billion cubic meters of natural gas to Beijing each year, and become Beijing's second largest source of natural gas, thus guaranteeing the security of the capital's energy supplies.

The project is located at Hexigten Banner in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, and will be operated by the Datang Energy Chemical Co., a subsidiary of Datang Group, one of five power generation groups in China. It will make use of the brown coal resources in Inner Mongolia and adopt an advanced production technology to transform the coal into natural gas which will then be carried to Beijing via a 381 kilometer transmission pipeline. The project is divided into three phases, during the first phase, 1.34 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be supplied in 2010; in the second phase, 2.68 billion cubic meters in 2011; and finally in the third phase, 4 billion cubic meters in 2012.

According to sources, Beijing’s annual demand for natural gas is around seven to eight billion cubic meters, with an annual growth rate of 20 percent. Beijing, therefore, has a shortage of gas. In addition, Beijing currently only has a single gas source, with 98 percent being supplied by Changqing Oilfield in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia Provinces, and the rest supplied by the North China Oilfield.

“Once the project is completed, it will not only help make up for the shortage of natural gas in Beijing, but will also connect northward to Beijing’s gas network and diversify Beijing’s energy sources, thus reducing the risk of having a single gas source and pipeline, and guarantee the security of the capital’s energy resources,” said Qin Jianming, the deputy general manager of Datang International Power Generation Co.

Wu Guihui, chief engineer for the National Energy Administration, said that China has an energy resource structure that relies heavily on coal, is poor in crude oil and has a definite lack of natural gas. Therefore, converting coal into natural gas will not only adjust China’s energy industry structure but also help achieve a conversion to cleaner coal usage and greatly reduce the discharge of pollutants. He said that once the project is completed and the gas starts flowing to Beijing, it will help purify the capital’s atmosphere.

Translated by LOTO