China NEWS

Oil rose in choppy trade as recent declines below $80 lured some investors back for bargains while the market waited to see whether the U.S. would match China’s plans to release strategic reserves.

ExxonMobil Corp. is moving forward with a previously announced plan to build a grassroots chemical complex in the Dayawan Petrochemical Industrial Park in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China.

Empyrean Energy PLC has let an integrated drilling contract (IDC) to China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL) for the Jade prospect exploration well on Block 29/11, offshore China. Target spud date is mid- to late-December.

Fitch Ratings-Hong Kong/Shanghai-25 August 2021: China’s oil and gas industry saw a growth recovery in upstream production, rebounding refining utilisation and a fast rise in gas consumption and imports during 1H21. The oil price rally will support upstream operations’ revenue and profitability, but press refining and gas margins in 2H21, says Fitch Ratings. Fitch expects national oil companies’ (NOC) 2H21 production to stay steady on higher upstream capex and segment profitability, which should improve with higher volume and prices. China’s gas production rose by 11.1% yoy during 1H21, while oil production was up by 2.2% yoy, as NOCs accelerated exploration and production.

China's state-run energy major Sinopec said on Wednesday it had discovered a new 100-million-tonne oil and gas field in the Shunbei area of the Tarim Basin in the country's Xinjiang region. An exploration well drilled by the company's northwest China unit achieved a daily flow of 865 tonnes (6,315 barrels) of crude oil and 590,000 cubic metres of natural gas, Sinopec said on Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform. It gave no precise resource estimate, saying only that more than 100 million tonnes of oil and gas had been discovered. Annual oil output from Sinopec's Shunbei field in Xinjiang, which was discovered in 2016, rose by nearly 30% in 2020 to about 1 million tonnes, while gas production was up 32% to 350 million cubic metres.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), have today signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the two organisations work closely to support grid enhancements, system flexibility and sector-coupling in China and IRENA’s Clean Energy Corridor regions. The agreement aims to advance the global energy transformation towards a net zero energy future particularly in developing countries.

BEIJING: China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, better known as Sinopec, plans a 23.8% increase in capital spending to 167.2 billion yuan in 2021 following recovery of oil prices and energy demand as the COVID-19 epidemic subsided.Sinopec expects to spend 66.8 billion yuan on upstream exploration focusing on shale gas development in southwest China

China's goal to become carbon neutral in 2060 will require $6.4 trillion of investment in new power generating capacity, leading to a tectonic shift in manufacturing and commodity imports while boosting its energy security, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Thursday. China has been grappling with rising oil and gas import dependency while facing increasing geo-political tensions that threaten its energy security.

The global offshore wind industry installed 6.07 GW of new capacity in 2020, with China in the lead with over 3 GW, the latest figures by GWEC Market Intelligence. The newly installed capacity was close to the record level of 6.1 GW reached in 2019, in spite of the pandemic. The world's total offshore wind capacity now stands at 35,196 GW.

India and china lead the recovery in Liquified Natural Gas(LNG) following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Royal Dutch Shell’s annual LNG Outlook published today.The company's are expecting that the demand for LNG is only going to increase henceforth as world over, economies are switching to carbon neutrality in the next few years.China's announcement of a target to become carbon neutral by 2060 so it's expected to continue driving up the LNG demand

Oil extended gains after closing at the highest level in more than a year as declines in U.S. and Chinese crude stockpiles added impetus to a rally driven by tightening global supplies. Futures in New York climbed to trade above $55 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories fell by 4.3 million barrels last week.

China has launched 1,100 km section of China-Russia East gas pipeline. Operations have already started in the middle portion of the pipeline. This will facilitate smog-prone Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in northern China with the natural gas from the Power of Siberia system. The line is expected to be complete by 2025 and could transport 38 bcm per annum of gas.

China to get its largest hydrogen plant by the year 2022. The plant will be set by Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. world's largest hydrogen producer. The estimated capacity for the plant will be 30 tonnes of liquid hydrogen per day. The total investment for the plant is of $1 billion including other setups in the pipeline. It is an initiative by the Chinese government to steer the country towards “carbon neutrality” by 2060.

Earlier this month Philippines President lifted the 6-year ban for advancing oil exploration with China in the South China Sea. The moratorium was ended to exercise the Philippines exclusive right in the area and also to have actual projects talks with the Chinese entities. The moratorium was the part of the South China Sea arbitration case which was ruled in the favor of the Phillippines in 2016.

The week started with a decline in the oil prices after the reports of lower than expected third-quarter economic growth of China. Brent slipped by 0.4%, to $42.78 a barrel. WTI went down and was traded at $40.70 a barrel. The world's second-largest economy just witnessed a minimal swell of 4.9% in its third quarter. According to the reports, Chinese data on crude processing and industrial metals output is disappointing.

China’s Sinopec Corp has awarded a 10 year tender to buy 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year from Qatargas. The tender was issued in the month of July, and the supply starts in 2023. Despite the global supply and the COVID -19 pandemic, Qatar’s exports were slightly higher this year as compared with the same period last year.

Chinese state-run Sinopec on Sunday posted its first half-year net loss on record amid weak fuel demand due to the global pandemic. It made a net loss of 21.725 billion yuan ($3.17 billion) for the first six months of 2020, compared to a 32.206 billion yuan profit a year earlier. First-half revenue fell 31% from a year earlier to 1.03 trillion yuan.

Saudi Aramco has suspended a deal to build a $10 billion refining and petrochemicals complex in China. Aramco decided to stop investing in the facility in China’s Northeastern province of Liaoning after negotiations with its Chinese partners and Aramco declined to comment on it. The uncertain market scenario could be behind the decision. The joint venture was signed when Prince Mohammed bin Salman was in Beijing in February last year.