U.S.-China (Guangdong) Gas Industry Workshop

The U.S.-China (Guangdong) Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop was co-hosted by National Energy Administration (NEA), U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), and U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program (ECP), and was successfully held in the Garden Hotel, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, on November 8th, 2018. More than 120 industry experts and practitioners from Chinese and American companies participated in the workshop.

Since the establishment of Dapeng LNG receiving station and Zhuhai Hengqin Island offshore natural gas receiving station in 2006, Guangdong Province has entered a period of rapid development of natural gas utilization. In 2017, the province's natural gas consumption was about 19.5 billion cubic meters, accounting for 8.1% of national consumption, ranking third in the country. At present, Guangdong Province has formed a gas supply pattern of “multiple gas sources, nearby supply” of LNG coastal import, onshore inter-provincial gas pipeline, and offshore natural gas. Nine natural gas supply projects have been completed. The supply capacity is about 47 billion cubic meters per year. Three projects have been approved by the state for construction in the near future, including PetroChina Shenzhen LNG peak-shaving station (about 4 billion cubic meters per year), three branch pipelines of PetroChina West-East Gas Transmission in Fujian and Guangdong Provinces (designed gas transmission capacity of about 6 billion cubic meters per year), Guangdong section of Sinopec Xinjiang coal-to-gas pipeline (designed gas transmission capacity of about 30 billion cubic meters per year, of which about 8.5 billion cubic meters per year for Guangdong) and other projects. In order to accelerate the appropriate utilization of natural gas in Guangdong Province and to solve the major problems that have plagued the development of local natural gas as soon as possible, ECP selected Guangzhou as the host city of the third U.S.-China Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop Series.

On November 8th, 2018, Guanjun Zu (Deputy Director of Energy Bureau of Guangdong Province), Jim Levy (Consul General of U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou), Steven Winkates (Program Management Director for East Asia of USTDA), and representatives of the local Development and Reform Commissions of Guangzhou, Foshan Development and Reform Bureau, Shenzhen Development and Reform Bureau, and Shaoguan Development and Reform Bureau and local company representatives attended the U.S.-China (Guangdong) Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop, and listened attentively to keynote speeches delivered by industry experts from U.S. and China. The focuses of the workshop are: global gas production and supply, U.S. upstream unconventional oil and gas development and technology innovation, U.S. LNG export status and outlook, U.S.-China LNG trading opportunity and challenge, Guangdong Province gas market outlook, Guangdong Province gas power generation situation, digitalization in global gas industry, U.S. turbine for gas power generation in Guangdong, U.S. Personal Protective Equipment in oil and gas industry.

During the meeting, under the auspices of Ms. Zhu Yanyan, the General Manager of Trading Department at CNOOC Gas and Power Trading & Marketing Branch, US and Chinese guests from Sinochem Group, Cheniere, Guangzhou Gas, Shenzhen Gas, Foshan Gas, and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP conducted in-depth discussions on US-China LNG trade, application and supply chain management. 

On November 9th, Mr. Jianyu He, Division Director of General Affairs, Department of Oil and Natural Gas, National Energy Administration, with 20+ U.S.-China delegates visited Guangzhou Zhujiang LNG Power Generation Co., Ltd, located on No.21 Huanshi Avenue (North) of Nansha District in Guangzhou. Guangzhou Zhujiang LNG Power Generation Co., Ltd. is jointly invested by Guangzhou Development Group Co., Ltd. (representing 70% of the total shares) and Guangdong Yudean Group Co., Ltd. (representing 30% of the total shares). Mr. Zhenguo Zhang, President and General Manager of Guangzhou Zhujiang LNG Power Generation Co., Ltd. welcomed the representatives from China and the United States, explained the situation of the power plant in details, and led a tour to the combined cycle units jointly manufactured by GE and Harbin Electric Corporation. 

The U.S.-China (Guangdong) Gas Industry Cooperation Workshop was successfully concluded. Hopefully, this meeting will bring new technologies and experience to the development and utilization of natural gas, and bring more opportunities for cooperation between China and the United States in this field.