Operation Optimization of Natural Gas Pipe Network Considering Energy Metering

Given the rapid advancement in the natural gas market, the existing volume-based trading system falls short of accurately valuing this commodity. This study focuses on addressing the economic challenges in pipeline operations resulting from transitioning from volume to energy metering for natural gas. Based on the actual situation of China’s natural gas market, a model is established for optimizing the operation of a multigas source pipe network under the energy metering system and volume metering system by considering the implementation plan of the energy metering system and the demand for natural gas from special users, and taking maximizing the profit of pipe operation as the goal, and taking the volume of gas supplied by the gas source and the way of boosting the pressure of the whole pipe as the decision-making variables. The model was applied to a long-distance pipe in China and solved by the GAMS/ANTIGONE solver. The results showed that the optimization results under different energy metering system implementation schemes were better than the actual operation schemes in the field, with a maximum profit increase of about 17.42%. User demand sensitivity analysis reveals that the highest profit difference under various user demand scenarios can reach 9%, and the profit variance under different gas source quality combinations can reach up to 10.56%.