Analysis of the energy return on investment of imported natural gas in China

The consumption of natural gas in China has increased rapidly，which forces China to import more and more natural gas.In this situation，it is of both theoretical value and practical significance to study the energy return of investment (EROI) for China’s imported natural gas.In this paper，the imported natural gas in China and the different imported sources are studied.The EROIs of China’s imported natural gas are calculated firstly，and the reasons for its tendency are analyzed.Then the EROIs of different import sources are estimated and compared.In addition，the impacts of greenhouse gas (mainly CO₂，CH₄ and NO_X) on the EROI are studied by comparing the standard EROIs and the EROIs with environmental inputs.The results show that the imported natural gas are feasible in the perspective of energy input-output efficiency.In terms of imported pattern，the pipeline gas has higher EROIs；in the case of the import sources，Kazakhstan，Australia，Indonesia，Uzbekistan have higher EROIs.This study provides a theoretical foundation for policy making of imported natural gas development.