China increases coal mining to provide winter power: Kemp
China's coal production has reached record levels, and its imports have also risen. However, the surge in power generated by solar farms and hydro dams has reduced thermal generation. The reliability of electricity is dependent on coal-fired power generation, especially during the winter when solar and hydro output are lower and the system relies more heavily on fossil fuel. Even though wind and solar power have been deployed in record numbers, coal is still the most common source of electricity generation, with winter months seeing a rise to over 75%.
China increases coal mining to provide winter power: Kemp
China's coal production has reached record levels, and its imports have also risen. However, the surge in power generated by solar farms and hydro dams has reduced thermal generation. The reliability of electricity is dependent on coal-fired power generation, especially during the winter when solar and hydro output are lower and the system relies more heavily on fossil fuels. Even though wind and solar power have been deployed in record numbers, coal is still the most common source of electricity generation, with winter months seeing a rise to over 75%.
China Expects Balanced Energy Supply/Demand
China's state planner expects this winter's energy supply and demand to be generally balanced amid increasing natural gas output and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.Citing unidentified officials from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Xinhua reported natural gas demand from residential users will grow by more than 3.8 billion cubic meters (bcm) this winter as China enters a third year of a drive to replace coal with gas for use in winter heating.But the NDRC expects natural gas output to reach more than 170 bcm in 2019, up 11 bcm from last year.
Asian Producers to Boost Winter Gas Supply
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, said it has secured 8.81 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas for northern China for the upcoming winter heating season, state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.That was up 15.5% from 7.63 bcm in the previous heating season.CNOOC Group, China's largest offshore oil and gas producer, plans to supply around 24.5 bcm gas, or 1.5 bcm more than last year, across the country, Xinhua reported.The country's top oil and gas producer, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) did not give the amount of gas it will supply in the winter, but said that it will boost output in major gas fields s
CNOOC Gas Supply Hits New Record
CNOOC Gas & Power, a unit of China National Offshore Oil Corp , said on Wednesday its daily supply of natural gas had surpassed 200 million cubic meters for the first time as temperatures in northern China plummet.CNOOC sent 205 million cubic meters of gas to the Chinese market on Dec. 10, 18.5 percent more than the daily high of 173 million cubic meters recorded in 2017, CNOOC Gas & Power says on its website.CNOOC plans to supply 48 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas this year, including 46.5 bcm of base supply and 1.5 bcm of incremental supply…
Sinopec Starts Major Gas Pipeline Early
China's Sinopec Corp said on Thursday it had started to operate the first phase of the Erdos-Anping-Cangzhou pipeline project in northern China, ahead of an expected operational date of early 2019.The pipeline, which connects gas production in the Erdos basin and users in Hebei province, is expected to supply a maximum 10 million cubic metres of gas a day during peak heating season, Sinopec said on its social media platform.The project is designed to transport 30 billion cubic metres a year and includes one trunk line and five branch lines, with total length of 2,293 kilometers (1424.8 miles).The company said in April that the pipeline will a
China's Top Gas Field to Produce Record Amount of Gas This Year
China's Changqing oil and gas field, operated by state energy giant PetroChina, is expected to produce record amount of natural gas this year exceeding 38 billion cubic meters (bcm), as more wells were brought online, its parent company CNPC said on Monday,Changqing, in northern China, the largest gas producer in the country, has nearly 11,000 wells in production by late September, after over 100 new wells started pumping, CNPC said on its news website.At 38 bcm, the output at Changqing makes up about a quarter of China's total gas production.State oil and gas firms have been stepping up domestic production as well as imports to be prepared f
U.S. Coal Cargo Reaches China, Beating Import Tariff Deadline
A vessel carrying 164,000 tonnes of coal from the United States reached Caofeidian port in northern China on Tuesday, Thomson Reuters Eikon ship tracking data showed. The vessel named Partnership is on schedule, while Beijing plans to impose steep tariffs next month on a list of U.S. At least three U.S. The other two vessels, Navios Taurus and West Trader, are expected to arrive at Jingtang port on July 18 and Aug. 10 respectively, according to Eikon data.
CNOOC Plots Tianjin LNG Terminal Expansion
CNOOC will start building six liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks by the end of the year as part of a project to expand its Tianjin LNG terminal to help meet surging demand from households in northern China, CNOOC Gas and Power Group said in statement on Wednesday night.The project, including six tanks each with 220,000 cubic meters of storage capacity, 12 gasification units and 12 high pressure pumps, has been approved by CNOOC's board members, the company said.The new facilities are expected to start operating in 2022.CNOOC's Tianjin terminal is expected to have 7.25 million tonnes of annual LNG processing capacity by 2030, up for 3.2
Asian LNG Spot Prices Jump on Chinese, Japanese Demand
Asian LNG spot prices jumped this week on strong demand from core importing countries including China and Japan. Spot prices <LNG-AS> for February delivery leapt 70 cents to $11.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Malaysia's Petronas sold a January cargo to Japanese trading giant JERA an estimated $11 per mmBtu, trade sources said. JERA is contracted to take 5.2 million tonnes per year of LNG from Chevron's Wheatstone export project which has been offline for the past four weeks as part of the plant's complex start up procedure. New projects routinely go offline during the commissioning phase when equipment is tested.
China's LNG Woes Boost Coal, But for How Long?
A sure sign that China is struggling with its planned switch to natural gas from coal for winter heating is the spot price of Australian coal climbing back above $100 a tonne. Spot cargoes of thermal coal from Australia's Newcastle port , an Asian benchmark for the fuel used mainly in power plants, rose to $100.65 a tonne on Wednesday, breaching the triple-figure barrier for the first time since Nov. 1 and hitting their highest since mid-September. The price is also 9.2 percent higher than a recent low of $92.20 touched on Nov.
Guangzhou Halts Foreign Coal Imports
Port handles 60 mln tonnes/year of foreign and domestic seaborne coal. Guangzhou port, the largest coal transport hub in southern China, has halted foreign coal imports, according to traders who use the port and said they had been informed of the shutdown by customs authorities and senior company officials. Traders said the move caught merchants using Guangzhou by surprise and interpreted it as a sign of Beijing stepping up its campaign to cut pollution caused by the burning of coal. China already banned coal imports at small ports in July but Guangzhou has 14 coal berths and can handle 60 million tonnes of shipments per year.
China's Coal Futures Turn Bullish
China's thermal coal futures rallied to a record high on Friday, lifting September futures to a premium over October, as a prolonged hot spell spurred power demand and low water levels dented hopes of higher hydro output, said three industry sources. The buying lifted futures for delivery in September to a premium of 6 yuan ($0.88) per tonne over October, in a structure known as a backwardation, when prompt prices are higher than those for later months, that reflects tightening supplies. At the start of the month, the spread had been in a 4-yuan contango.
CNOOC Diverted Two LNG Cargoes from Tianjin After Pipeline Fire
China's state-owned energy company CNOOC diverted two cargoes of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a pipeline fire in northern China's Tianjin, though imports were normal as of Monday, traders with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. Reuters reported on Dec. 28 that a natural gas pipeline in Tianjin was closed after it ruptured and caught fire. Two sources with knowledge of CNOOC's gas operations in Tianjin said CNOOC diverted the LNG cargoes after the accident on the pipeline, which is connected to a domestic gas consumer.
China overtakes S. Korea as Asia's biggest Forties Crude Buyer
Shell to send 10 mln bbls Forties to China May-Sept; koch unloads 2 mln bbls in July. China has surpassed South Korea as the top destination in Asia for North Sea Forties crude this year after Royal Dutch Shell sent 10 million barrels of the oil for arrival between May and September. Stuck with excess North Sea crude after a strike in France dampened European demand, Shell is pushing crude to the world's second-largest oil consumer as it struggles to find an outlet for its share of the Forties stream close to home.
Britain's Coal Transition Holds Lessons for China
Britain's last deep coal mine closed on Friday, bringing the curtain down on an industry that once employed more than 1 million miners at over 3,000 collieries. Coal helped Britain become the first modern industrial power, fuelling her factories, steel works, ships and railways in the 19th century, when the country became famous as the workshop of the world ("Energy transitions", Smil, 2010). Contemporary observers believed Britain's imperial might was bound up with the future of her mines, and their inevitable depletion worried them as much for its political as its business implications.
China to Expand Coal Ban to Suburbs
China will expand its bans on coal burning to include suburban areas as well as city centres in efforts to tackle air pollution, the top energy agency said on Tuesday. Detailing its clean coal action plan 2015-2020, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said it would promote centralised heating and power supply by natural gas and renewables, replacing scattered heat and power engines fuelled by low quality coal. The world's biggest coal consumer will ban sale and burning of high-ash and high-sulphur coal in the worst affected regions including city clusters surrounding Beijing.
Sinopec Leads Shale Research Center
State energy group Sinopec will head up a new national shale oil research and development centre that has been approved by the National Energy Administration, official paper China Energy News reported on Monday. China may hold 10-20 billion tonnes of shale oil resource, the paper said, citing preliminary industry estimates. Sinopec has since 2011 been tapping shale oil resource in formations in central China's Qinyang and east China's Jiyang basins for signs of oil flows, it said. Oil and gas development has been ongoing for decades in the two continental basis, with shale rock buried deeper below the conventional producing zones.
Sinopec to Up Winter Gas supply, PetroChina Boosts Imports
Sinopec to hike nat gas supply to domestic users November-March. China's Sinopec Corp plans to supply 11 percent more natural gas to domestic users between November and March, versus year-ago levels, while PetroChina has boosted gas imports to meet rising demand for heating purposes over the winter months. China faced a severe gas shortage last year as consumption peaked during winter in the world's top energy user, compelling it to ration and suspend supply to some industries in order to guarantee sufficient stock for home and transport use.
Sinopec CapEx Soars to Handle Pipeline issues
Sinopec says two pipelines have been closed for a while. BEIJING, Nov 17 (Reuters) - China's Sinopec Group has pledged to spend $4.6 billion over three years to address safety concerns related to its oil pipelines, after authorities asked for two of the firm's pipelines to be temporarily shut down following inspections. The State Administration of Work Safety ordered the company, parent of Asia's top refiner - Sinopec Corp, to shut the 179-km Linyi-Cangzhou pipeline and a 40-km pipeline from the Tanggu oil depot to Dagang in Tianjin by Nov.
