Major progress in the natural gas exploration and development in the past seven decades in China

China has made significant progress in the exploration and development of natural gas in the past 70 years, from the gas-poor country to the world's sixth largest gas production country. In 1949, the annual gas output in China was 1 117x10(4) m(3), the proved gas reserves were 3.85x10(8) m(3), and the average annual gas consumption and available reserves of per person were 0.020 6 m(3) and 0.710 7 m(3), respectively. By 2018, the average domestic annual gas production per person was 114.857 6 m(3) and the reserves were 12 011.08 m(3), and the average domestic annual gas production and reserves per person in the past 70 years increased by 5 575 times and 16 900 times, respectively. The exploration and development of large gas fields is the main way to rapidly develop the natural gas industry. 72 large gas fields have been discovered in China so far, mainly distributed in three basins, Sichuan (25), Ordos (13) and Tarim (10). In 2018, the total gas production of the large gas fields in these three basins was 1 039.26x10(8) m(3), accounting for 65% of the total gas production in China. By the end of 2018, the cumulative proved gas reserves of the 72 large gas fields had amounted to 124 504x10(8) m(3), accounting for 75% of the total national gas reserves (16.7x10(12) m(3)). New theories of natural gas have promoted the development of China's natural gas industry faster. Since 1979, the new theory of coal-derived gas has boosted the discovery of gas fields mainly from coal-measure source rocks in China. In 2018, the gas production of large coal-derived gas fields in China accounted for 50.93% and 75.47% of the total national gas production and total gas production of large gas fields, respectively. Guided by shale gas theories, shale gas fields such as Fuling, Changning, Weiyuan and Weirong have been discovered. In 2018, the total proved geological reserves of shale gas were 10 455.67x 108 m(3), and the annual gas production was 108.8x10(8) m(3), demonstrating a good prospect of shale gas in China.