Development strategies of provincial natural gas markets in China: A case study of Shaanxi Province

With the transformation of energy consumption structure in China, natural gas is sharing an increasing proportion in primary energy consumption, but the increasing rate is low. So, there is still great potential to further expand the natural gas consumption markets. In this paper, based on natural gas utilization situations in China, the development status of natural gas industry in Shaanxi Province was discussed to highlight the potential and urgency of developing natural gas consumption markets in the province. According to the development situations of different areas, the markets are divided into four levels, i.e., county and township near-term small market, municipal near-term medium market, major county mid-term medium market, and municipal early-term large market. The gas consumption is divided into initial stage, growth stage and mature stage. Finally, development programs were proposed on natural gas markets in different areas at various development stages. Firstly, as for the markets at the initial stage, marketing enterprises should focus on urban gas to perform their political responsibilities. Secondly, as for the markets at the growth stage, enterprises should focus on the adjustment of natural gas market structure to perform their economic responsibilities. And thirdly, for mature markets, enterprises should pay attention to the large-sized advanced industrial users that are newly built, rebuilt or expanded in the periphery and should give the priority to the distributed energy in promotion and utilization. © 2016, Natural Gas Industry Journal Agency. All right reserved.