SINOPEC completes gas transmission project
29 Mar 2010
Hong Kong – China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) has completed a major project to transmit natural gas from Sichuan to Eastern China. The project was launched in 2007 following a major breakthrough in the exploration of the Puguang gas field.
The Sichuan to Eastern China project included exploration and development of the Puguang gas field, acidic gas treatment and the transmission pipeline across eight provinces to Shanghai. The designed annual purified natural gas transmission capacity is 12 billion cubic meters, with a total investment of around Euro6.8 billion.
Sinopec reports that the system engineering for the project was highly challenging, involving many technical issues and geological complexities. In particular, it said, developing acidic gas fields with a high content of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) involved harsh working conditions and huge engineering challenges with limited access to emergency and rescue operations.
Engineers also had to overcome complicated subterranean conditions, impact of earthquakes, security risks and resolve many difficulties rarely seen in the rest of the world to developed an integral super-large gas field with a high content of hydrogen sulfide.
The gas purification plant – the largest of its kind in Asia – is equipped with a trunk line and three feeder lines and has a planned output target of 4 billion cubic meters purified natural gas this year.
The transmission project has secured solid supply of gas resources. Applying the exploration techniques and theories innovated within Sinopec , the natural gas reserves in Puguang and neighboring areas have been further verified with major breakthroughs in
the Yuanba area.
During the project, Sinopec also verified 451.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the northeastern part of Sichuan, with 464.8 billion cubic meters put under well control. Predicted reserves have reached 575.0 billion cubic meters, and total three-tier reserves have come to 1.49 trillion cubic meters.
At present, the main part of Puguang gas field has an annual production capacity of 10.5 billion cubic meters of mixed natural gas, offering a minimum of 20 years stable output based on current projection of reserve.
Accordin to the Chinese group, some 51 items of technologies and safety and environmental protection standards have been developed over the course of this on-going project. These, it said, offer a complete technological and safety system for the development of high-acidic gas field and valuable experience for developing similar gas fields in China.
The Puguang gas field development has also led to the construction of a chemical industry park in Dazhou city, Sichuan Province.
This, said Sinopec, has attracted many Chinese and foreign enterprises, including the KO YO Ecological Agrotech group of Hong Kong.
