The China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd., the country's largest offshore oil producer, announced on January 14 the operation of the Liuhua 19-5 Gas Field.

The gas field is expected to hit its peak production of 29 million cubic feet per day within the year, a company press release said.

The project is located in the Pearl River Estuary Basin of the South China Sea with an average water depth of about 185 meters.

It was designed to share the existing production facilities of the Panyu 30-1 Gas Field. Two new producing wells have also been drilled.

Nuclear Project

The Ningde Nuclear Power Station in east China's Fujian Province will double its generation capacity in 2014 as its second generating unit is expected to be put into commercial use in the first half of this year, a company source said on January 15.

The second generating unit, which has an installed capacity of 1.09 million kw, went into operation on January 4, according to a press conference held by the Fujian Ningde Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., the operator of the plant.

The first generating unit went into operation in April 2013. It produced about 7 billion kwh of electricity last year.

The two generators will produce 12.5 billion kwh of electricity in 2014, accounting for 7.26 percent of the province's electricity consumption in 2013.

After its third and fourth generating units, which also have installed capacity of 1.09 million kw each, become operational next year, the power plant is expected to produce 30 billion kwh of electricity annually.

Compared with a similar coal-fired plant, the four nuclear generators can reduce coal consumption by 9.8 million tons of coal a year. They can also help cut carbon dioxide emissions by 24 million tons per year and sulfur dioxide emissions by 230,000 tons.

China currently has 17 nuclear reactors in operation, as well as 28 more under construction that account for two fifths of unfinished reactors throughout the world.

Hybrid Trains

The China CNR Corp. Ltd. (CNR), one of the country's largest train makers, announced on January 14 that it would roll out a prototype of a hybrid high-speed train off the production line in September 2015.

Changchun Railway Vehicle Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the CNR, will integrate two or three power sources—electricity, battery pack or diesel engine—into the new model, according to the CNR.

The power sources will form two-in-one or three-in-one power packs depending on operational and rail conditions. The design speed of the new model will be 160 km per hour. It is expected to run on both trunk and branch railways, said the CNR.

They will be widely used compared with traditional trains because of their adaptability to travel on both electric and nonelectric railways.

By the end of 2013, 52.4 percent of China's railways had been electric. This will increase, according to the country's medium- and long-term railway development plan.

The production of hybrid high-speed trains will serve the country's increasing number of electric railways, according to the CNR.