Market Trends of China Oil and Gas Midstream Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the China Oil & Gas Midstream Market according to our research experts:
Transportation Sector to Witness Significant Growth
- China's oil and gas midstream consists of oil and gas transportation, pipelines, and storage facilities. As of 2021, the country had nearly 110,000 km of natural gas pipelines, while the oil pipeline accounted for almost 27,441 km.
- PetroChina's oil pipelines had a total length of about 7,340 km in 2021, while the gas pipelines had a full length of around 17,329 km. Overall, pipeline length decreased in 2021 compared to the previous year.
- As of 2022, the country has the largest LNG import capacity under development. The country is also planning to add over 200 million metric tons (MMT) in annual import capacity within the next few years, of which 85.3 million metric tons are already in the development stage. This capacity is higher than the project pipelines of other Asian countries such as Vietnam and Thailand.
- China produced 207.58 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in 2021, an increase of over 15 bcm compared to the previous year. The country is also witnessing increasing consumption of natural gas. The growing consumption may boost the growth of pipelines in the country during the forecast period.
- Hence, the transportation segment is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period due to the rising production of gas and growing investment in the sector.
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Increasing Oil and Gas Consumption to Drive the Market
- China is the second-largest consumer of oil and gas and the sixth-largest producer of oil and gas globally. The energy market in the country is dominated by state-owned oil and gas companies that develop the country's domestic reserves, build and operate pipelines, and manage and fill its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR).
- The country's natural gas consumption amounted to 378.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2021, an increase of roughly 13% compared to the previous year. The increasing consumption incentivizes the investors for the required increase in capacity and boosts future investments, thereby boosting the industry's growth.
- With the rising demand for natural gas, the country is planning to build 23 gas storage facilities by 2030, with an investment of around USD 8.5 billion. The completion of the storage facilities, along with the upcoming gas pipelines, is expected to boost the midstream sector in the country in the future.
- In January 2022, Sinopec, a Chinese oil and gas enterprise, discovered a new oil and gas area with approximately 100 million ton of reserves in the Tarim Basin of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region. These latest reserves in Sinopec's Shunbei oil and gas field are estimated to provide 88 million metric ton (MMT) of condensate oil and 290 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The new oil and gas discoveries also support the demand for oil and gas within the country.
- In October 2022, Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Company of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) made a new shale gas discovery in the Sichuan basin in China. The shale gas has been discovered following the drilling of the Jinshi 103HF exploratory well, which has an anticipated resource capacity of 387.8 billion cubic meters (bcm). With daily natural gas production reaching 258,600 cubic meters, the new discovery will support the oil and gas needs within the country.
- Owing to such developments and increasing oil and gas consumption, the Chinese oil and gas midstream market is expected to grow further during the forecast period.
