With the start of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the construction of multiple major oil and gas infrastructure projects in China has accelerated, with a number of trunk pipelines and gas storage and peak-shaving projects advancing steadily, continuously densifying the national oil and gas transmission network and laying a solid foundation for building an energy powerhouse.

Recently, at the construction site of the Phase II project of PipeChina's Hainan LNG terminal, the dome of the 3# LNG storage tank, weighing 821 tons, successfully completed its "air raising," marking a major milestone for the project. As a key measure by PipeChina during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period to optimize the energy layout of South China and the ASEAN region, the successful "air raising" has opened an "accelerated channel" for the subsequent construction of the 4# and 5# storage tanks, and also laid a solid foundation for the Hainan Free Trade Port to build an LNG resource supply center for the ASEAN region and a storage and transshipment hub for the Asia-Pacific in the future.

The Hainan LNG 3# storage tank that completed its "air raising" has a capacity of 220,000 cubic meters, with a total roof weight of 821 tons and a lifting height of about 43 meters, equivalent to the height of a 15-story building. The operation relies on the principle of pressure differential within a confined space, using multiple fans working in coordination to steadily lift the dome to its designated position. The project made extensive use of digital control measures to monitor the dome's ascent trajectory in real time, ensuring the dome remained stable and controllable throughout the process, effectively avoiding measurement deviations caused by traditional manual monitoring, and achieving a deviation of less than 2 mm in the docking between the tank dome and the compression ring and a deviation of less than 5 mm in the dome's orientation, thereby improving the precision control of the air-raising operation.

At present, the overall comprehensive progress of the Phase II project is close to half, and it is expected to be fully completed in 2027. Once completed, it will add 400 million cubic meters of gas storage capacity, significantly enhancing the region's peak-shaving and supply-guarantee capabilities.

In addition to the gas storage and peak-shaving projects, three projects that started construction this year—the Jiangsu-Anhui-Henan trunk line, the Wen 23-Anqing natural gas pipeline, and the Shandong network north trunk line—are in full swing. At present, some work crews have already taken the lead in completing the hundred-joint break-in operation, and construction is advancing steadily. Meanwhile, the Sichuan-to-East China Gas Pipeline Phase II, a key project of the "15th Five-Year Plan," is also accelerating, with tunnel crossings and pipeline welding proceeding simultaneously, and a planned 1,000 kilometers of welding for the year.

In Changchun, Jilin, with the final weld passing inspection, the top-level hot work tie-in operation at the Changchun interconnection compressor station of the Hulin–Changchun natural gas pipeline project was successfully completed. This hot work will achieve interconnection among the Harbin–Shenyang line, the Changchun–Jilin line, and the Hulin–Changchun pipeline. At present, the main construction of nine stations along the Hulin–Changchun pipeline has been completed, with overall project progress exceeding 90%, and the entire line is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2026.

The outbound pipeline of China's largest coal-to-natural-gas production base—the trunk line project of the Zhundong coal-to-natural-gas pipeline—has completed 118 kilometers of welding, and the Tianshan tunnel crossing, a controlling engineering component, has entered the full excavation stage. Once completed, the project will interconnect with the West-East Gas Pipeline system, enhancing China's capacity to guarantee the supply of natural gas resources.

The 143.8-kilometer Lianyungang–Yizheng crude oil pipeline (Lianyungang–Huai'an section) has achieved a welding progress of over 99%, with construction of two stations and six valve chambers proceeding smoothly, and it is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of June this year. After commissioning, the project will enhance the stability and security of crude oil supply to Nanjing and the areas along the Yangtze River. At present, PipeChina has nearly 40 key oil and gas pipelines under construction, with a total length of more than 9,000 kilometers.

Source: Xinhuanet