CNOOC will account for 50% of natural gas in 2030.

With the continuous improvement of LNG production capacity, the global LNG trade scale will continue to expand, and it is expected to exceed 50 billion cubic meters by 2023, an increase of about 30% over 2017.

On April 2, at the 19th International Liquefied Natural Gas Conference (LNG2019), known as the “Olympic Games” of the LNG industry, Yang Hua, chairman of China Ocean Petroleum Group Co., Ltd., made the above judgment in an interview with reporters of the Economic Reference Daily.

He disclosed that, as the third largest LNG importer in the world, CNOOC will actively promote technological innovation, management innovation and business model innovation in the future, continue to vigorously develop natural gas business, establish a stable supply of LNG resources, and promote the construction of LNG receiving stations. It is expected that the proportion of natural gas will reach 50% by 2030, and LNG receiving stations will reach 15-17, with annual receiving and processing capacity exceeding 80 million tons. Let more users use more economical LNG products. At the same time, we will promote the opening and sharing of LNG receiving stations in an orderly manner, so as to make more enterprises and entities participate in all aspects of LNG industry chain with a more active and open mind, vigorously promote LNG heavy truck and ship filling business, and actively promote its application in the field of transportation.

In today’s world, the trend of clean and low-carbon energy development is becoming more and more obvious. The energy transformation process characterized by high efficiency, cleanliness, diversification and intelligence is accelerating.

In Yang Hua’s view, natural gas, as an efficient, low-carbon and clean fossil energy, has begun to replace primary energy sources such as coal and petroleum in many energy-using fields. It is an important bridge to transition to new energy system and a realistic choice to promote energy transformation. By the end of 2017, the recoverable reserves of natural gas in the world were 193.5 trillion cubic meters and the recoverable life was 52.6 years. The long-term growth trend of natural gas resources supply is promising, which can guarantee the sustainable development of natural gas industry.

Among them, LNG has gradually become the most active form of natural gas supply with the advantages of easy transportation, multi-subject, flexibility, safety and efficiency. Data show that China’s LNG imports accounted for 44% of global LNG trade growth in 2017 and nearly 60% in 2018.

As early as the mid-1990s, China National Offshore Oil (CNOOC) took the lead in introducing LNG into the southeastern coast in line with the national energy strategy. At present, 10 LNG receiving stations have been built, ranking first in China, with an annual receiving and processing capacity of more than 45 million tons. In 2018, China offshore oil imported 26.42 million tons of LNG, with a total import volume of 150 million tons, accounting for more than 65% of the total import volume in the country.

In addition, CNOOC has established three core independent technology systems, namely, natural gas liquefaction technology, LNG receiving and storage technology and clean energy comprehensive utilization, through independent research and development and mastery of the core technology of LNG industry chain. CNOOC has established independent technology brands such as CGTank?, CGLiq?, and has become the first energy company in Asia to fully master the core technology of storage tanks and have EPC general contracting capacity.

Yang Hua believes that the proportion of natural gas consumption in primary energy consumption in China is still far behind that in developed countries. According to the 13th Five-Year Plan of Natural Gas, it is expected that the proportion of natural gas in primary energy will reach 10% by 2020. Importing LNG will play an increasingly important role in achieving this goal. China will make positive contributions to global LNG trade and even to the development of global natural gas market in the future.

“With the continuous emergence of new technologies, the continuous innovation of business models and the active participation of more subjects, the global LNG market will become more active.” He believes that while the scale of LNG trade continues to expand, the flexibility and liquidity of global LNG trade will be further enhanced, the main body will become more diversified, contract duration, contract volume, pricing methods and delivery modes will be more flexible, and the volume of short-term and spot trade will be more. Especially in the wave of integration of new technology represented by digitalization and LNG industry, the cost of production, transportation and utilization of LNG will be further reduced, and the price competitiveness will be effectively improved.

However, it is noteworthy that the global LNG industry still faces some challenges. Yang Hua said that the construction and operation costs of facilities such as LNG liquefaction plants and transport ships are still high and the economy needs to be further improved; international LNG prices are greatly affected by market fluctuations and have not yet formed a global unified pricing system, and the Asian premium problem is still prominent; some LNG resource suppliers still adopt the old way to meet the requirements of the same period and trade destination. Strict; large-scale utilization of natural gas/LNG in Asia is still limited by infrastructure bottlenecks and so on.

He suggested that in order to promote the development of global LNG trade, all parties should further promote the innovation and breakthrough of LNG business cooperation mode, jointly explore innovative schemes of business cooperation mode, and improve the flexibility of business contract terms. Asian buyers should further strengthen cooperation, exert the geographic advantages of the world’s largest LNG import region by establishing communication and coordination mechanisms, form a community of interests, and actively explore the establishment of regional natural gas market price index. In order to conform to the development trend of natural gas/LNG market, Asian countries have made the natural gas market open and transparent through market-oriented reforms and other mechanisms. On this basis, they have strengthened contacts and cooperation, optimized the resource allocation of LNG in Asia, enhanced the voice of LNG purchasing pricing, and strived to form the natural gas price index in Asia as soon as possible. In cooperation with LNG exporting countries in natural gas exploration and development, natural gas resources are imported by means of upstream participation and output sharing, so as to ensure the long-term and stability of imported gas sources.