China’s gas storage reliance grows

Despite technical challenges and slow development times, storage capacity is expanding

China will meet a greater share of its gas requirement through withdrawals from underground gas storage (UGS) this winter. Demand is widely expected to remain subdued during the heating season, which started in November, and combined with forecasts of greater stock draws this means storage will account for a higher percentage of the country's gas supply mix over the colder months than it did a year ago. China injected an estimated 17bn m³ of gas into storage—including both UGS facilities and tanks at LNG regasification terminals—this summer, up by 2.5bn m³ year-on-year, according to data compiled by Petroleum Economist. Given the much quicker turnover of gas in LNG storage tanks, the UGS fac