Beijing Enterprises starts work on Erdos CTG project

Beijing government-owned firm Beijing Enterprises has begun work on its 4bn m³/yr coal-to-gas (CTG) project in northwest China's Inner Mongolia, with start-up targeted for 2023.

Work on the Erdos CTG project, which will supply gas to Beijing and nearby regions in north China, started on 9 May. The project is designed to use 9.63mn t/yr of coal as feedstock, with the gas to be delivered through state-controlled PetroChina's fourth Shaanxi-Beijing pipeline. PetroChina expanded the pipeline capacity to 21.26bn m³/yr at the end of November last year from 15.43bn m³/yr previously.

Beijing Enterprises accelerated the CTG project last year, amid central government support following gas shortages in north China during the 2017-18 heating season. Preparations for the 28.3bn yuan ($4.16bn) project started in 2012. It won approvals from the ministry of ecology and environmental in 2016 and top economic planner the NDRC in May 2017.

China's winter gas shortfall has boosted run rates at the country's operational CTG projects — the 1.335bn m³/yr Datang Keqi and 400mn m³/yr Huineng plants in Inner Mongolia, as well as the 1.375bn m³/yr Qinghua and 2bn m³/yr Ili Xintian projects in northwest Xinjiang. China's CTG output increased to 2.2bn m³ in 2017 and 2.3bn m³ in 2018 from 1.65bn m³ in 2016, according to estimates by state-owned oil firm CNPC.

The gas shortage has given new impetus to Chinese CTG projects. State-owned Datang Fuxin CTG revived its shelved 4bn m³/yr project in Liaoning province's Fuxing city in April 2018 and expects to complete the 1.33bn m³/yr first phase by next month. Private-sector Huineng Coal Chemical Industry has a start-up target of 2021 for its second phase, 1.6bn m³/yr venture in Inner Mongolia. And state-controlled Hubei Energy is pushing forward with a 4bn m³/yr CTG project in Jingzhou city in Hubei province.