China faces intensified gas shortages

At the same time that PetroChina backed out of a natural gas deal with Woodside, China is facing intensified gas shortages as cold weather hammers many parts of China.

Beijing has seen its lowest temperatures in 40 years and is facing traffic chaos, fuel shortages, and electricity rationing. This cold snap in China demonstrates how critical acquiring energy sources is to meeting China’s growing energy needs. Push it to the limits and problems start occur. But despite these pressures to acquire energy sources, China is savy in their investment decisions  as exampled by the PetroChina / Woodside deal collapse. They do have options, and as shale gas is unlocked those options may increase.

The system is very fragile and the natural gas distribution network needs much improvement.