The newly issued "Natural Gas Utilization Policy" this year emphasizes the need to balance supply and demand, enhance demand-side management, boost production capacity, ensure stable supply, regulate prices reasonably, and strictly oversee projects. Industry experts believe that while this policy may help alleviate the current imbalance between natural gas supply and demand, the key challenge remains in transportation. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" for energy, natural gas has emerged as the fastest-growing energy source. Major oil companies like PetroChina, Sinopec, and CNOOC have made significant progress in exploration and production. For instance, PetroChina has discovered large reserves in Sichuan and Daqing, Sinopec in the northeastern part of Sichuan, and CNOOC in deep-sea areas of the South China Sea. These discoveries have raised expectations that the national gas supply-demand gap might improve. Yin Xiaodong, an energy analyst, notes that the main bottleneck is not a lack of production but poor transportation infrastructure. Moving gas from resource-rich areas to high-demand regions like the southeast remains a critical issue. Although several long-distance pipelines have been built, the growth in supply still lags behind rising demand. Expanding pipeline networks in the future could significantly ease the imbalance. According to Yin, the new utilization policy serves more as a guiding framework rather than a direct solution. It aims to prevent wasteful use, such as using natural gas for methanol or ethanol production in the chemical industry, and instead promote its use in residential sectors. However, it may not drastically resolve the current supply-demand issues. In August of this year, the plan for the second West-East Gas Pipeline was finalized. The pipeline will have a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters annually, with construction starting in 2008 and completion by 2010. Stretching over 6,500 kilometers from Xinjiang to Guangzhou, it will bring gas from Central Asian countries like Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to southern provinces facing shortages. This pipeline is nearly twice as long as the first one. Despite improved supply and transportation, experts suggest that imports will still be necessary. Transporting gas from the northwest to the southeast can be costlier than importing LNG from Australia. Therefore, LNG plays a crucial role in meeting current demand gaps. Industry forecasts predict that eastern China’s natural gas demand will reach 136 to 180 billion cubic meters by 2020, making up over 60% of the national total. Up to 20-40% of this demand may be met through LNG imports. In recent years, CNOOC has signed three LNG import contracts, with receiving terminals in Guangdong, Fujian, and Shanghai. By 2020, with contributions from CNPC, Sinopec, and CNOOC, China is expected to import at least 60 million tons of LNG annually, equivalent to 80 million tons of oil. CNPC also plans to import 3 million tons from Australia, with Shell supplying 1 million tons and Woodside Petroleum providing the rest. This marks the first LNG supply agreement for CNPC. While these efforts are promising, the transportation challenge remains unresolved. As the saying goes, “far water cannot quench near thirst.”

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