State-run energy company Petrochina has started to build a new 1.5 bcm underground gas storage facility in Chongqing (southwest China). It will be built out of the depleting Tongluoxia gas field. Petrochina will own 57% in the project while the remaining 43% will be held by a state-owned Chongqing company and other shareholders. When built in 2020, the gas storage facility will be able to deliver up to 9 mcm/d during peak demand season, which is enough to supply 4 million households.
CNPC, the controlling shareholder of Petrochina, currently operates 24 out of 25 gas storage sites in China and the remaining one is operated by Sinopec. In winter 2017-2018, CNPC supplied 7.4 bcm of gas from its storage sites to cope with heating demand, as the country was implementing the government's coal-to-gas policy and faced a supply crunch. CNPC plans to boost its total natural gas storage capacity to 15 bcm by 2025 while Sinopec plans to develop an additional 55.6 bcm of gas storage capacity in the future.