An offshore gas storage facility has officially started operations in the Bohai Sea near Tangshan, North China's Hebei province, marking a milestone in the country's energy infrastructure development as it is the country's first offshore gas storage facility, according to a report by Hebei Daily on Tuesday.

The Nanpu No 1 Gas Storage Facility is expected to supply 350 million cubic meters of natural gas to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region during the 2024-2025 heating season, benefiting approximately 3.5 million households, the report said.

The facility, operated by PetroChina Company's Jidong oilfield branch, is situated more than 3,000 meters below an artificial island in the oilfield.

Designed to store gas during periods of low demand and release it during peak usage times, the facility has a storage capacity of 1.81 billion cubic meters.

To strengthen the region's capacity for energy supply assurance, the company plans to continue expanding its gas storage capabilities by developing a cluster of storage facilities, according to the report.