China's 1st underground natural gas storage facility up and running for 50 years

HARBIN, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's longest-serving underground natural gas storage facility, located in Daqing Oilfield in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, has seen injection and extraction of over 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas over its 50 years of operation.

The Lamadian natural gas storage facility of Daqing Oilfield has operated continuously for over 18,000 days, surpassing the commonly recognized lifespan of 30 to 50 years for gas storage facilities.

In addition, it has maintained a record of zero safety or environmentally hazardous incidents since its establishment 50 years ago.

Recently, the storage facility launched a new round of gas extraction, targeting the withdrawal of 84 million cubic meters of natural gas to support the winter energy supply in Heilongjiang -- a region known for severe winter cold.

To address the challenges of storing significant volumes of gas byproducts, Daqing Oilfield built China's first underground natural gas storage facility in 1975.