Natural gas is a kind of green and efficient clean energy, which can form a benign complementary with other renewable energy and other low emission energy. It is the most realistic choice for the current clean energy supply. With the continuous recovery of the real economy in recent years, the consumption of natural gas is growing rapidly, and plays an increasingly important role in the process of world energy diversification.

Since 2016, China's natural gas demand has erupted due to the downward price of superimposed gate stations driven by policies, and the growth rate of demand has reached more than 12%, which shows an expanding trend. In 2017, China's natural gas output was 147.4 billion cubic meters, with a year-on-year growth of 7.70%; natural gas import was 95.547 billion cubic meters, with a year-on-year growth of 26.99%; its external dependence reached 38.43%; and natural gas consumption was 239.394 billion cubic meters, with a year-on-year growth of 14.71%.

In the first half of this year, China's natural gas output was 77.9 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%; natural gas import was 58.4 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 39.3%; and apparent natural gas consumption was 134.8 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 17.5%. It is estimated that by 2020, the total gasification population will reach 470 million, and the new urban gas demand in China will reach 23.3 billion cubic meters, with an average annual growth rate of 10.5%. At the same time, the proportion of natural gas consumption in primary energy consumption will increase to 10%, and the total natural gas consumption may reach 360 billion cubic meters. The compound growth rate of China's natural gas consumption from 2016 to 2020 will be close to 15%.

With the continuous recovery of China's economy, the transformation of energy consumption to low-carbon, and the continuous growth of natural gas consumption demand, it has been put on the agenda to speed up the construction of gas storage, improve natural gas peak shaving and emergency response capacity, which is the necessary guarantee for accelerating the development of natural gas industry. In order to ensure the stable and safe supply of urban gas and help the green development of social economy, Ganghua gas group, as one of the largest urban gas groups in the mainland, has a forward-looking insight into the development of the industry, strategically arranged the construction of peak shaving facilities such as underground gas storage, and created a precedent for the urban gas industry.

Ganghua Jintan Gas Storage is jointly constructed by Hong Kong Zhonghua gas and China Salt Jintan Salt Chemical Co., Ltd. It is the first large-scale underground salt cavern gas storage project of urban gas in China and the key supporting facilities of west east gas pipeline project. With the close attention of governments and competent departments at all levels in Jiangsu Province, Changzhou City and Jintan District, and the strong support of cooperation units such as PetroChina, Jintan salt chemical company and Beijing oil and gas control center, the three wells of phase I of Ganghua Jintan Gas storage were successfully completed and put into trial operation in the first half of this year, and will be officially put into operation at the end of October, with a gas storage capacity of nearly 150 million cubic meters and a working gas volume of about 8800 cubic meters Ten thousand cubic meters.

A total of 10 wells will be built in phase I of Ganghua Jintan Gas Storage, which is expected to be completed in 2022. The total gas storage capacity of the gas storage is about 460 million cubic meters, of which the effective working gas volume is about 260 million cubic meters, and the maximum gas supply capacity is 5 million cubic meters per day. In March 2018, Ganghua group and China Salt Jintan Salt Chemical Co., Ltd. reached a strategic consensus to continue to expand cooperation, adding 10-12 wells on the basis of the original 10 wells. By then, the total reserves of the gas storage will reach 1 billion cubic meters, and the working gas volume will be nearly 600 million cubic meters, which will make an important contribution to accelerating the construction of gas storage facilities and improving the peak shaving capacity of the urban gas industry.

East China is one of the most developed regions in China. With the increasing demand for clean energy natural gas, the problem of peak shaving is becoming increasingly prominent. With the formal operation of phase I of Ganghua Jintan Gas Storage, the peak shaving and gas storage capacity of Ganghua Gas Group will be greatly improved. Through the interconnection of high-pressure pipe networks of urban gas enterprises, the increasingly tense demand for peak shaving in East China will be greatly alleviated, which plays an important role in ensuring the stable supply of natural gas and promoting the social and economic development of the region.