Refusal of Russian gas: China is preparing an energy revolution
The Russian authorities are hastily building their own LNG plants in order to manage to occupy a niche in the growing Chinese gas market. The Kremlin plans to build the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline. The problem is that a new super-player will soon come to the world energy market, which will cover all this fuss of the USA and Russia with a “copper basin”.
It's about China. Yes, today he, like the United States at one time, is the largest importer of energy resources. Beijing made a strategic decision to abandon the use of environmentally harmful coal and switched to "blue fuel". Demand for gas in China is great both in winter and in summer. It is not surprising that today, American industrialists prefer to ship their LNG not to Europe, but to Asia. Interestingly, the Chinese even in Europe manage to outbid LNG tankers and redirect them to their homes.
But soon everything can change in the most dramatic way. The fact is that China is the owner of the largest reserves of shale gas in the world. For comparison, they are twice as many as Australia and the USA combined, about 31,6 trillion cubic meters. The only problem is extraction. Most of the shales are located at a depth of 3,5 kilometers in the province of Sichuan. Shale gas production in the United States doesn’t help here, because there are no pumps and pipes of similar strength that can withstand incredible pressure. In addition, this method is unacceptable due to the banal water shortage.
In the USA, the “shale revolution” has developed due to the extremely successful combination of several factors. In the PRC, the situation is different and you cannot help the matter by simply copying American experience. Russian expert Igor Yushkov explains:
Or is there already? The Chinese edition of the South China Morning Post reported that decades of scientists have been successful, and Beijing has finally received its own shale gas production technology. The developers called it the "energy core." The bottom line is that instead of hitting a liquid under high pressure, deep rocks should burst from shock waves generated by powerful electric currents. Water is not used. The head of the project, Professor Zhang Yongming, explains:
The discovery is a breakthrough, but it will still need to be worked out in practice. Scientists note that the "energy core" will be much more environmentally friendly than the American fracturing technology. It will also be necessary to assess the risks for earthquake resistance in Sichuan.
What will happen if the bold forecasts of Chinese scientists come true? By 2030, Beijing intends to increase its own shale gas production to 100 billion cubic meters. The global energy market will be completely redrawn. All American, Qatari, Australian, and Russian projects focused on selling LNG to China will become unprofitable. About the "Power of Siberia-2" can be forgotten.
And this is not so bad. What if China decides to become a gas exporter?
- Sergey Marzhetsky
- http://www.gazprom.com/
Information