Staff members from PipeChina conduct a daily inspection of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline in Qinhuangdao, North China's Hebei Province on January 3, 2025, aiming to ensure the daily consumption of gas for households in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region?of North China. Photo: VCG

China is accelerating its transition to a new stage of modern oil and gas industry development, marked by an increasingly diversified and balanced energy structure. 

It is estimated that by 2030, China's natural gas production will reach 300 billion cubic meters, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Sunday, citing a report on the development achievements of China's oil and gas industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25). 

According to the report, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China registered a cumulative increase of 7 billion tons of proven geological reserves of oil and 7 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, representing year-on-year increases of 43 percent and 40 percent, respectively compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period. Oil and gas production also reached record highs over the same period.

Wu Mouyuan, a deputy dean of the Economics and Technology Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corp, was quoted as saying in the CCTV report that China's development of natural gas has been significant during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, with an annual increase in production of about 13 billion cubic meters. During the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, the annual increase of natural gas is also projected to remain above 10 billion cubic meters, reaching approximately 300 billion cubic meters by about 2030.

The report also forecasts that over the next decade, China's energy structure will exhibit the characteristics of "reducing coal, stabilizing oil and gas and increasing non-fossil fuels," which observers said signified China's push for a greener economy. By 2060, the proportions of fossil energy, hydropower and nuclear power, wind power and photovoltaic power will reach 23 percent, 19 percent, 25 percent, and 30 percent, the report said.

The report predicted that with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and new high-energy-consuming industries, China's electricity demand will exceed 20 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2060, doubling the 2025 level. The terminal electrification rate will reach 62 percent, with an average annual increase of 0.9 percentage points.

Global Times