What is the impact of the green and low-carbon transformation of the "three barrels of oil" on energy supply?

The "2023 Energy Work Guidance" emphasizes that while ensuring energy supply and price stability, we will further promote the green and low-carbon transformation——

"Three barrels of oil" to make a green and low-carbon transformation

Reporter Liao Ruiling

Energy is the food of industry and the lifeblood of the national economy. PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC, as the main forces of oil and gas exploration and development, are often collectively referred to as "three barrels of oil", and play an important role in China's energy industry. "Three barrels of oil" is also a super-large enterprise that has entered the list of the world's top 500, among which PetroChina and Sinopec have ranked in the top ten of the world's top 500 in recent years, and their every move has attracted much attention at home and abroad.

Recently, China's National Energy Administration issued the "2023 Energy Work Guidelines" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), which "delineates" energy work, emphasizing the in-depth promotion of green and low-carbon energy transformation while ensuring energy supply and price stability. As the "national team" of energy supply, how will "three barrels of oil" turn to "green"? Our reporter conducted an interview.

Layout new energy, expand hydrogen energy and wind power

Under the guidance of the "dual carbon" goal, China has guided the orderly transformation of traditional energy sources. The "three barrels of oil" is also steadily advancing in the field of new energy.

As a secondary energy source with diverse sources, zero terminal emissions and a wide range of uses, hydrogen energy is favored.

The relevant person in charge of Sinopec introduced that anchoring the goal of building "China's first hydrogen energy company", Sinopec is actively deploying the development of hydrogen industry chain. In February this year, the world's largest green hydrogen coupled coal chemical project, the Inner Mongolia Ordos City Wind and Solar Integration Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project, was officially launched. In addition, the main body of Sinopec Xinjiang Kuqa 2,2 tons/year green hydrogen demonstration project hydrogen plant has also been completed and is expected to be put into operation within this year. "We are also promoting green hydrogen technology research, such as achieving a breakthrough in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis of water hydrogen production technology in the hydrogen production link, and the first set of self-developed megawatt-level PEM electrolysis water hydrogen production device was put into operation in Yanshan Petrochemical." The relevant person in charge of Sinopec said.

"Based on the idea of 'carbon replacement, carbon reduction, carbon use, and carbon burial', we propose to develop a 'carbon circular economy'. Vigorously develop 'natural gas +' clean energy, actively build a 'hydrogen energy +' zero-carbon fuel industry chain, and promote the integrated development of oil and gas resources and wind, solar, thermal and hydroelectric hydrogen. The relevant person in charge of PetroChina said.

Green hydrogen production projects have been completed, and the construction of hydrogen pipelines is also accelerating. On April 4, Sinopec announced that the first "West-to-East Hydrogen Transmission" hydrogen pipeline demonstration project in China was included in the Implementation Plan for the Construction of "One National Network for Oil and Gas" issued by the National Energy Administration. After the pipeline is completed, it can transport green hydrogen made from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar in Inner Mongolia and even western China to areas with strong market demand in the east, so as to alleviate the problem of mismatch between domestic green hydrogen supply and demand.

Then look at the sea. Today, offshore wind power is becoming an important direction for energy companies to achieve green development. The relevant person in charge of CNOOC introduced that focusing on the goal of green and low-carbon development, the company is steadily and orderly promoting the offshore wind power business and selecting the best to develop onshore scenery. "China's first deep-sea floating wind power platform 'CNOOC Guanlan' has arrived in the operation area of Wenchang, Hainan, which is the world's first 'double hundred' offshore wind power project with a water depth of more than 100 meters and an offshore distance of more than 100 kilometers, marking that China's deep-sea wind power key technology has made significant progress, and also means that China's wind power development has moved from shallow sea to deep sea." The person in charge said that the "CNOOC Guanlan" project is expected to be put into operation this year, and the annual power generation capacity can reach 2200 million kilowatt-hours after operation, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 2,2 tons.

"CNOOC will actively develop new energy sources, with 5% to 10% of annual capital expenditure going to offshore wind to keep pace with the global energy transition." Xie Weizhi, chief financial officer of CNOOC, said publicly a few days ago.

Technological innovation helps reduce carbon emissions

Technological innovation is a key part of the high-quality development of the energy industry. The guidance proposes to vigorously tackle key green and low-carbon technologies and enhance the new competitive advantages of the energy industry.

The strong "three barrels of oil" has increased investment in technological innovation, and a number of high-tech energy projects have accelerated their landing.

Looking at onshore - in August last year, China's largest carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) whole industry chain demonstration base, the first million-ton CCUS project in China, Qilu Petrochemical-Shengli Oilfield million-ton CCUS project was officially injected into operation, marking the beginning of China's CCUS industry into mature commercial operation.

According to the person in charge of Sinopec, CCUS is an emerging technology for low-carbon and efficient development of fossil energy, that is, the carbon dioxide emitted in the production process is captured and purified, and then put into a new production process for reuse and storage. "The project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million tons per year, equivalent to planting nearly 900 million trees, which is of great significance for building an 'artificial carbon cycle' model." In addition, the project will provide rich engineering practice experience and technical data for the large-scale construction of CCUS projects in China, thereby helping to achieve the goal of 'dual carbon'." The person in charge said.

Look at the deep sea - in the East China Sea of Hainan Island, a bright yellow "steel castle" is embedded in it - this is the world's first 4,10-ton deepwater semi-submersible production and storage platform "Shenhai No. <>" independently developed and built by China. On April <>, CNOOC announced that the "Shenhai-<>" ultra-deepwater atmospheric field has completed the transformation and commissioning of remote control production, which has the ability to maintain continuous, safe and stable production capacity during typhoons, becoming the world's first ultra-large deepwater semi-submersible production and storage platform with remote control production capacity.

"As the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China, CNOOC has moved from shallow sea to deep sea and has completed a number of deep-sea oil and gas development projects. The company continues to launch research on key core technologies, masters a number of key core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, and drives the innovation and upgrading of the entire industry chain. The relevant person in charge of CNOOC said.

With digital technology, oil and gas resources from the deep sea can also be intelligently exploited.

The relevant person in charge of CNOOC introduced that the company has built the most intelligent offshore unmanned platform in China - Enping 10-2 platform, which will have the ability to remotely control logging, pressing and restoring production after it is put into operation.

"CNOOC plans to put into operation nine new projects this year, including the Bozhong 9-19 condensate gas field phase I development project in Chinese waters, the Lufeng 6-12 oilfield development project, and the overseas Brazilian Mero3 project and Guyana Payara project." The relevant person in charge of CNOOC said, "We will continue to implement the three major projects of 'oil and gas reserve increase and production, independent innovation in science and technology, and green and low-carbon transformation' to ensure national energy security." ”

Increase the intensity of oil and gas exploration and development

China is both a major energy producer and a major energy consumer. What is the impact of the green and low-carbon transformation of "three barrels of oil" on energy supply?

In interviews, all three companies said that ensuring supply and price stability is the foundation, and they are increasing oil and gas exploration and development to ensure energy security. Relevant experts analyzed that technological innovation itself is conducive to the development of new energy and the efficiency of traditional energy.

On March 3, PetroChina's Daqing Oilfield Smart Command Center, on the big screen, when crude oil production data continued to rise, reaching 26.25 billion tons, there was a burst of applause and cheers at the scene - as of that day, the cumulative production of crude oil in Daqing Oilfield, China's largest onshore oilfield, exceeded 25.36 billion tons, accounting for <>% of the country's total onshore crude oil production.

Oil and gas are like the "lubricant" and "acceleration pump" of economic and social operation. In 2022, China will vigorously increase exploration and development efforts around the hard and stable production of old oilfields, the rapid breakthrough of new oilfields, and the rapid production of sea areas, and the crude oil production will reach 2 million tons - this is the first time in six years, China's annual crude oil production has returned to 04 million tons. In the field of natural gas, by increasing the exploration and development of new gas fields, holding the main position of conventional natural gas, and promoting the rapid production of unconventional gas, natural gas production last year was about 6 billion cubic meters, and the annual increase in production exceeded 2 billion cubic meters for six consecutive years.

The guidance proposes to strengthen the exploration and development of domestic energy resources, increase reserves and production, and strive to make new breakthroughs in land deep, deepwater, shale oil and gas exploration and development, CCUS to promote the green and low-carbon development of crude oil.

"This year, we will closely focus on meeting China's core oil and gas needs and serving energy jobs in our own hands, strengthen domestic efficient exploration and benefit development, and complete oil and gas reserves and production targets with high quality." The relevant person in charge of PetroChina said. On the one hand, we will continue to promote efficient exploration, focusing on six major fields, including marine carbonate rocks, lithological strata, volcanic rocks, thrust tectonic zones, new areas and new areas, and shale oil and gas, strengthen risk exploration and shake off exploration, and strive to find big discoveries and breakthroughs; On the other hand, we have organized concentrated exploration in four 6 million ton oil reserve areas such as Tarim Fuman, and five 4 billion cubic meter natural gas scale reserve areas, including the northern slope of the ancient uplift in Sichuan.

The relevant person in charge of CNOOC said that this year, the group will focus on high-quality energy supply, fully promote the project of increasing reserves and production, and complete the tasks of increasing reserves and production and ensuring energy supply throughout the year. Focus on key areas such as deep water, deep water, lithology, and submerged mountains to ensure that the company's reserve replacement rate remains above 130% and the reserve-production ratio remains above 10; Anchoring the domestic oil and gas production increase target, the "14+2" oil and gas development project is completed and put into operation as scheduled, and the annual new production capacity is expected to exceed 800 million tons. At the same time, we will continue to optimize the introduction channels of oil and gas resources, and it is expected to introduce nearly 3000 million tons of LNG throughout the year, achieve nearly 1 million tons of crude oil trade, and take multiple measures to increase domestic oil and gas supply to ensure energy security. (People's Daily Overseas Edition)