China is deploying both domestic and overseas energy resources to ensure stable supplies for winter heating, while further optimizing the country’s energy mix to enhance supply security amid a complex international energy situation, and officials stressed on Wednesday that energy supply remains sufficient and stable.

Industry analysts also expect overall stable energy supply for this winter and spring 2023, thanks to policy measures to increase energy output that will effectively relieve supply pressure.

Since the beginning of the winter heating season, the country’s supply of coal for power generation has remained at a high level, with the coal inventory at a historical high level of around 175 million tons, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Wednesday.

Coal inventories at major thermal power plants in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province reached 5.98 million tons as of Tuesday, exceeding the goal of 5.8 million tons, according to a report on the Sichuan Provincial Economic and Information Department website on Wednesday.

The sufficient storage of coal will ensure full operations of coal plants during the dry season from December to April, it said.

A province that attracted nationwide attention this summer due to severe power shortages, Sichuan encapsulates the country’s efforts to guarantee energy supply during the winter peak demand season.

Centrally administered state-owned enterprises in the sector are also making their utmost efforts in this regard.

China National Petroleum Corp (PetroChina)’s Liaohe oilfield in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, which shoulders the responsibility of supplying natural gas for Northeast China and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, has made sufficient preparations in increasing gas exploration, storage and supply capability in order to increase the supply for heating season.

The field’s newly added daily gas output has reached 193,000 cubic meters, and another 30,000 cubic meters of daily capacity could be flexibly released according to demand, PetroChina said in a report on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline, China’s first transnational gas pipeline, has delivered over 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China this year, with about 120 million cubic meters of natural gas a day, according to China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corp.

In August, the State Council announced that measures will be taken to support electricity producers under central administration in issuing 200 billion yuan ($28.22 billion) of special-purpose bonds for energy supply.

As a crucial tool for ensuring energy supply, the issuance of such bonds is picking up. According to data from Wind, a financial information database, Chinese power producers have issued over 120 billion yuan of special-purpose bonds.

In the meantime, China has been strengthening energy cooperation with countries including Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday held a meeting with Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov via video link, calling for Kazakhstan to ensure the stable supply of gas to China in accordance with the contract and increase its gas supply in winter as much as possible, saying that energy cooperation is the cornerstone of practical cooperation between the two countries.

At a bilateral energy forum on Tuesday, China and Russia also vowed to further strengthen cooperation in energy trade.

Huang Yongzhang, vice general manager of PetroChina, said at the 4th China-Russia Energy Business Forum on Tuesday that in the first 10 months of 2022, Russia exported 33.26 million tons of oil to China via pipelines.

Meanwhile, as an important part of the integrated cooperation between China and Qatar, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and QatarEnergy signed a 27-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase and sales agreement last week, which will see the annual supply of 4 million tons of LNG to Sinopec.

“The overall energy supply in China is sound, with the output of coal, petroleum and natural gas on the rise on a yearly basis while market demand is relatively stable,” Jin Lei, a professor with China University of Petroleum, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

A series of energy cooperation deals, especially the long-term deal with Qatar, will further diversify the nation’s sources of energy and greatly contribute to China’s energy supply security, as well as the country’s goals of achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality, he said.

However, China still depends heavily on imported oil and gas, Jin pointed out, urging more efforts to develop renewable energy and increase exploration by domestic energy producers to prevent potential supply risks. 

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The figure makes a milestone, as it provides for more than one-10th of China’s annual domestic natural gas consumption, ensuring a stable supply for the nation, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Lin aid that the domestic consumption of gas is usually around 300 bcm, and the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline remains an important and steady source for natural gas. 

The pipeline began operation in December 2009. It starts from the borders of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and then crosses central Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan. The pipeline enters China at Khorgas and links with the No.3 and No.2 pipelines of China’s West-to-East Gas Pipeline, with annual gas transmission capacity rising to 600 bcm. 

The compressor station in Khorgas is the first stop for imported natural gas entering China as well as the first station of the West-to-East Gas Pipeline, with the functions of receiving, transporting and monitoring. Eight compressors of the station with an overall power of 240 megawatts can add power to more than 2,000 cubic meters of natural gas every second.

The pipeline has been operating stably and safely since it went into service. More than 500 million residents across 27 provinces and cities, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, along its route have benefited from the pipeline, according to a Xinhua report in June.

As of mid-June, cumulative natural gas imports via the China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline had reached 400 bcm, equivalent to energy generated by 532 million tons of coal with a reduction of 568 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 8.8 million tons of hazardous substances, the Xinhua report said.

PipeChina announced on September 28 that the construction of the No.4 pipeline had started. It is estimated to lift the annual carrying capacity of the system to more than 100 bcm.

Authorities in China have been ramping up energy production and imports to ensure stable supply for winter heating. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China produced 18.5 bcm of natural gas in October, a year-on-year increase of 12.3 percent, while the output of raw coal, crude oil and electricity also grew.

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