Energy Conservation Is Comprehensive Work     

Through the application of the low energy consumption oil gathering technology, Lasaxing Oilfield of CNPC Daqing Oilfield Co., Ltd. has achieved all-year-round non-heating oil gathering in 2 470 oil wells and seasonal non-heating oil gathering in 6 530 oil wells. It is an implementation in the research on the application of oil/gas field energy-conservation demonstration projects launched by CNPC in Daqing Oilfield. With the application dissemination of this new process technology, Daqing Oilfield can reduce a cost of more than RMB28 million a year.

Technology taken as the lead

"In energy conservation measures, energy conservation through technology is the most important," said experts. "In chemical firms, energy saved through technology can account for around 40% of the total energy conservation and energy saved through management accounts for 10%-15%."
    Since 2000, CNPC has conducted the dissemination of technologies based on process energy optimization. Besides, focus has also been laid on the application of energy-saving high-effect equipment, the enhancement of automatic control level and the optimized energy distribution and utilization. Compared with 2000, energy equivalent to 1.42 million tons of standard coal was saved in 2004.
   "In CNPC energy consumed in oilfields and refining & chemical firms accounts for more than 95% of the total," said the director of the Quality and Energy Conservation Division of CNPC Quality, Safety and Environmental Protection Department. "Technical measures need to be further adopted to improve the energy efficiency. Old oilfields should conduct energy-saving technical renovation based on systematic optimization and readjustment and disseminate the application of matured and suitable new power-saving and gas-saving technologies. Refining & chemical firms should highlight systematic energy optimization and take comprehensive measures."
    To firms that have not yet been listed in the stock market, energy consumption is mainly in production service, fine chemical, machinery manufacturing and engineering and technical service. Energy consumed in these aspects accounts for more than 95% of the total. Energy conservation work in these firms should center on these aspects.
    It is reported that in oil well drilling, energy consumption has been greatly reduced through using energy conservation measures such as frequency shift and speed readjustment and selecting most suitable drilling bits and drilling tools to increase the drilling speed.
   "Well drilling should be quickened and oil consumption should be reduced." It became the key words popular in Sichuan Petroleum Management Administration in 2005. While making footage of 197 thousand meters more than the same period of 2004, the drilling oil consumption was reduced by over 5 thousand tons from January to July 2005.
   "Sinopec Group, CNPC and CNOOC should strengthen the exchange of energy conservation technologies and share their resources," said experts. "Internal exchanges are very inconvenient today. Sometimes it is more convenient to have external exchanges with overseas counterparts than internal exchanges. Companies should proceed from overall national interests because energy saved after all belongs to the whole country."

Distribution readjustment

"Introducing technologies, strengthening management and increasing inputs all belong to minor conservation, "said experts. "Macro conservation mainly refers to enhancing the awareness of energy conservation and removing constraints in systems and mechanisms."
   Through the execution of "oil-to-coal" projects, Daqing Petroleum Management Administration, Liaohe Petroleum Exploration Administration and Jinzhou Petrochemical Company Ltd. under CNPC have achieved fuel replacement. They can replace 380 thousand tons, 180 thousand tons and 250 thousand tons of fuel oil respectively a year.
   Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical Company Ltd. under Sinopec became the first corporation in petrochemical industry that started to use water coal slurry as fuel in 2000. The water coal slurry furnace was designed according to 80% water coal slurry and 20% fuel oil. To further save 20% fuel oil, the company organized technical de-bottlenecking and finally achieved the target of completely burning water coal slurry.
   During the Tenth Five-year Plan period (2001-2005), Sinopec Group reduced 16.2 million t/a outdated refining capacity and shut down 44 small chemical units and some small fuel oil boilers, 623 oil depots with low effect or no effect and 6 853 oil/gas wells with low effect and no effect.
   "Listed operations and unlisted operations in a petrochemical group are one and single industrial chain," said experts. "We should put the conservation of resources into consideration from the angle of industrial chain so as to achieve the maximum utilization of resources in the entire group."
   According to an expert from China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association, in industrial readjustments concerning energy conservation conducted by the state, sectors with great energy consumption should be resolutely shut down. The process has however to be completed with the help from the market force. For example, producing one ton of calcium carbide needs to consume more than 3 500 kWh of power. If the calcium carbide sector is shut down, several dozen billion kWh of power could be saved and the energy conservation effect would be remarkable. Nevertheless, the market needs calcium carbide. As the price of calcium carbide in the international market is higher, domestic producers export their products to overseas markets. Even if the state has exercised macro control and suspended export rebate policy, the enthusiasm in calcium carbide producers is not cooled down at all.
   "To conduct readjustment for energy conservation, we should change the inherent concept of "output supreme" we harbored in the past," said experts.
   After the birth of the oil industry in China, producing more oil for the state was the target for several generations of oil workers. What oil firms competed with each other was the hard index of oil output. It was up to 1998 when the international oil price dropped to less than US$10 per barrel and several hundred low-yield oil wells in CNPC were forced to shut down that the concept of "output supreme" started to shake. Daqing Oilfield made a profit of RMB10 billion and CNPC made a profit of RMB9 billion that year.
   Will industrial readjustment give rise to a new supply gap? Experts point out that the problem can have a solution through increasing the load of large units and equipment.

Involvement by all personnel

"It will be the greatest energy conservation to make good use of the 180 million tons of crude oil produced by ourselves today and bring it into full play," said an expert from Sinopec Economics & Development Research Institute.
   The enhancement of energy efficiency requires everybody to develop a sense of energy conservation and make energy conservation everybody's habit.
   Developing a sound habit of energy conservation needs the restraint and support from institutions. An institutional restraint mechanism from the head office to workshops and further to work teams should be established in petrochemical firms. Rewards and commendations should be made to actions of energy conservation done by employees. Penalti