In 2010, China's natural gas output was about 100 billion cubic meters, and the four major gas regions in the West accounted for more than 60% of the country's total natural gas output.

The great development of the western region is an important decision-making of our country in the new century. In these seemingly barren and desolate places, there are abundant resources, such as natural gas, which have become the innate advantages of development. There are resources in the West and markets in the east. Therefore, as a landmark project of the western development, the first line of West-East Gas Transmission came into being.

Sichuan-Chongqing Basin: Market Development "Test Field"

Sichuan and Chongqing have the earliest natural gas discovery and the longest utilization time. Sichuan Basin is the birthplace of the first kilometer gas well in China. It is the first place in the world to develop gas fields on a large scale and the earliest area to master the drilling technology of small caliber deep wells. Today, there are still many "tops" in Sichuan Basin. It is not only the region with the largest number of natural gas fields (more than 300 gas reservoirs) and the largest number of gas producing layers (more than 20), but also the first gas producing area with over 10 billion cubic meters. It is also the region with the highest marketization of natural gas.

The natural gas fields in Sichuan Basin are abundant and widely distributed. They are usually divided into four oil and gas accumulation areas, namely, Eastern Sichuan gas area, southern Sichuan gas area, western Sichuan gas area and central Sichuan oil and gas area. Among them, Eastern and southern Sichuan gas fields and gas reservoirs are the most, accounting for about 70% of the total.

After the 1980s, Sichuan and Chongqing petroleum people increased their exploration efforts. Large-scale geological reserves of natural gas have been discovered successively in eastern Sichuan and Western Sichuan, and large-scale high-yield gas fields such as Xinchang gas field and Pingluoba gas field have been discovered, and gas transmission networks connecting the whole basin have been built successively. Sichuan-Chongqing natural gas industry began to develop rapidly. But at this time, natural gas consumption in Sichuan and Chongqing is limited to a few cities in and around Sichuan and Chongqing.

In 2004, the Southwest Oil and Gas Field took the lead in building the first 10 billion cubic meters gas area in China. At the end of that year, Sichuan gas finally came out of Sichuan. Six provinces and cities, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Hubei, enjoy the "good fortune" from the Sichuan Basin. However, due to the rapid growth of natural gas demand in Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan and Guizhou, not long ago, the second line of West-to-East Gas Pipeline entered Zhongwu Pipeline, and "Sichuan Gas Out of Sichuan" completed its historical mission.