A carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and liquefaction facility now runs smoothly in south China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), signaling a major technological advance in the region's push toward green and low-carbon development.
The facility, located in Hainan's Chengmai County, was developed by Southern Petroleum Exploration and Development Corporation -- a Hainan-based subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) -- which focuses on oil and gas exploration and new energy development.
It captures, purifies and liquefies CO2 extracted from associated oilfield gas, with daily output of liquid CO2 now surpassing 100 metric tonnes.
"To date, our pilot project has cumulatively stored 360,000 tonnes of CO2 while boosting oil and gas output by 150,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to offsetting the annual carbon emissions of about 150,000 cars," said Wang Haisheng, executive director of Southern Petroleum Exploration and Development Corporation.
Building on its successful industrialization of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), the corporation is now pioneering advanced carbon storage technologies.
By refining capture technology and implementing a multi-dimensional monitoring network, the project has achieved long-term and stable CO2 storage, solidifying the foundation for a safe and low-carbon energy system in Hainan.
CO2 capture, storage facility makes tech advance
As the New Year holiday is drawing near, more and more people in China are choosing to celebrate the arrival of 2026 with travel.
According to umetrip, a Chinese travel-related mobile service provider, the flight booking reservations from major cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai to popular destinations including southern cities like Sanya, Haikou, Kunming, Guangzhou, and northern areas like Changbai Mountain and Harbin have increased significantly on a month-on-month basis for the New Year holiday.
As of Thursday, more than 2.71 million tickets have been booked in domestic routes, about 35 percent higher than that of last year, the data shows.
"Flights from Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Chengdu to Sanya; from Shanghai and Chengdu to Beihai; from Guangzhou and Shanghai to Changbai Mountains; and from Beijing to Kunming have all recorded seat occupancy rates exceeding 70 percent prior to the New Year holiday," said Yu Haiyan, deputy manager of revenue management office with China Southern Airlines' sales department.
Travel bookings for January 2026 show that ice-and-snow trips and warm-weather getaways remain the dominant themes, with their popularity expected to continue through the Spring Festival, the traditional Chinese New Year, which falls in February 2026.
"Air ticket bookings to Harbin, Shenyang, and Yanbian have increased by 18 percent, 36 percent, and 52 percent, respectively, while those for flights to Haikou and Sanya rose by 19 percent and 51 percent, respectively," said Shi Ke, a researcher of the Qunar Big Data Research Institute.
China sees strong travel demand for upcoming New Year holiday
