Implications of the European gas market for the long-term construction of underground gas storage in China

Underground gas storage (UGS) is an important part of the natural gas industry. Its peaking characteristics and storage capacity are critical to national energy supply and energy security. Compared with the mature gas market in Europe, the construction of UGSs in China faces many challenges. This study is expected to provide references for China UGS through a detailed analysis and calculations of the European natural gas market and underground storage. First, the current status and development of the European gas market were summarized. And the situation of primary energy structure, gas utilization, and UGSs construction was compared between the EU and China. Second, the working gas volume of UGSs in Europe was analyzed from the perspective of its relationship with total consumption and peak-shaving volume. Finally, the simulation and prediction of the working curve of the energy storage facilities and the reasonable ratio of the energy storage to load were solved by the numerical fitting method. Meanwhile, the recommendations for China's natural gas market and UGSs were provided. It is appropriate to set the planning target of China UGS capacity to load at 5% of total consumption and the actual peaking gas volume will be 14.4 billion cubic meters by 2030.