【Saudi Aramco】
Aramco Unveils $1.5B Mega VC Fund For Sustainability
Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco has launched a $1.5 billionSustainability Fund that will invest in technology supporting a “stable and inclusive” energy transition, making this among the largest-ever sustainability-focused venture capital funds in the world.
“Managed by Aramco Ventures, the fund is an extension of the Company’s efforts to meet the world’s growing energy demand, with lower greenhouse gas emissions,” the world’s largest oil and gas company said in a statement.
The fund’s initial focus areas include carbon capture and storage(CCS), greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, nature-based climate solutions, hydrogen, ammonia, digital sustainability and synthetic fuels. The fund will target investments globally.
“Climate change is a critical issue, which is why sustainability is well-integrated in Aramco’s strategy and investment decisions. The Company is harnessing innovation and collaboration as it seeks long-term solutions to global energy challenges. By driving large-scale investments and building key domestic, regional and international partnerships, Aramco aims to enable a stable and inclusive energy transition that meets the world’s need for energy with lower emissions,’’Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan, Aramco Chairman, said.
Last year, Saudi Aramco announced that it was kicking off the biggest shale gas development outside of the United States. Saudi Aramco said it plans to spend $110 billion over the next couple of years to develop the Jafurah gas field, which is estimated to hold 200 trillion cubic feet of gas. The state-owned company hopes to start natural gas production from Jafurah in 2024 and reach 2.2 Bcf/d of sales gas by 2036 with an associated 425 million cubic feet per day of ethane.
Aramco later announced that instead of chilling that gas and exporting it as LNG, it will instead use it to make much cleaner fuel: Blue hydrogen. The company said that its immediate plan was to produce enough natural gas for domestic use to stop burning oil in its power plants and convert the remainder into hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is made from natural gas either by Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) or Auto Thermal Reforming (ATR) with the CO2 generated captured and then stored. As the greenhouse gasses are captured, this mitigates the environmental impacts on the planet.
【Shell】【TotalEnergies】
European oil and gas giants post Q3 profits
Shell and TotalEnergies have both reported earnings of more than USD 9 billion in Q3 2022, the two energy giants announced on Thursday.
UK’s Shell announced profits of USD 9.5 billion in Q3 2022, which was slightly lower than the previous quarter.
The company cites recent developments as its reason for sustained profits, including the acquisition of Spring Energy in India, participation in Qatar’s North Field South LNG expansion project, the FID on the Rosmari-Marjoram development in Malaysia and acquisition of Shell Midstream Partners in the USA.
TotalEnergies recorded profits of USD 9.9 billion in Q3 2022, a slight rise from USD 9.8 billion recorded in the previous quarter, despite a USD 3.1-billion impairment related to its operations in the bigger producer.
The company highlighted its acquiring stake in Qatar’s North Field South LNG expansion project, startup of production on its Ikike field in Nigeria, launch of the Begonia project in Angola and a significant discovery in Cyprus.
TotalEnergies also acquired a 50% stake in US renewables company Clearway Energy Group and interest in 12 GW of onshore solar and wind projects in Brazil.
【Shell】
Shell eyes potential carbon capture and storage hub in Southeast Asia
Oil and gas major Shell has inked a deal to look into carbon transport and storage options in Brunei and Singapore, which could form part of a potential carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub in Southeast Asia.
Shell, whose ambition is to have access to at least 25 million tonnes a year of CCS capacity by 2035 and become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, disclosed on Wednesday that Shell Eastern Petroleum has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) to explore the feasibility of carbon transport and storage options for Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. The government of Brunei Darussalam and Shell group each own a 50 per cent stake in BSP.
Agnete Johnsgaard-Lewis, the Managing Director of BSP, commented: “We are in a good position to leverage our existing relationships and track records in Brunei and Singapore to enable the development of a potential CCS hub in Southeast Asia.”
As outlined in this deal, both players will evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of carbon storage options in Brunei Darussalam and carbon transport solutions from Singapore. This will enable cooperation between the two countries in developing relevant policies while complementing efforts undertaken by the countries’ governments to deepen cooperation in the areas of energy and green economy, such as CCS through a deal signed in August this year.
Aw Kah Peng, the Chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore, remarked: “CCS will help reduce CO2 emissions from our own operations, as we transform our manufacturing footprint here into Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore. It also offers a way to reduce emissions from hard-to-decarbonise industries, such as those found on Jurong Island. This will help Singapore cut its carbon footprint as we transition to a lower carbon economy.”
Shell, which is a provider of CO2 capture technologies, highlighted that CCS involves the integration of proven technical elements – CO2 capture, compression and transport, and storage – adding that its shipping business has played “an active role” in the development and construction of “the world’s first vessels specifically designed to carry liquid CO2 derived from CCS.”
In addition, the energy giant has “a proven track record of helping to develop large-scale commercial projects” that involve the full carbon capture and storage value chain. This includes building and operating Quest in Alberta, Canada with more than 7 million tonnes of CO2 stored there since 2015 “under budget and ahead of schedule.”
Shell also partnered with Equinor and TotalEnergies in Norway on the Northern Lights project to transport CO2 from industrial sources by ship to a central receiving hub and then send the CO2 through a pipeline to an offshore store.
When it comes to Shell’s other activities, it is worth noting the oil major recently revealed its 3Q 2022 results, which show higher profits on a year-on-year basis thanks to higher gas prices and increased volumes from deepwater assets.
【Shell】
Shell approaching spud date for North Sea exploration target
Oil major Shell is preparing for drilling operations on the Pensacola gas prospect in the UK North Sea with plans to spud the well in mid-November 2022.
Shell is the operator of Licence P2252, which contains the Pensacola prospect, with Deltic Energy as its partner. The two made a positive well investment decision for Pensacola in March 2021. Following this commitment, the focus of activity moved to the well planning. In April this year, the well was scheduled to begin towards the end of 3Q 2022.
In June 2022, Maersk Drilling, now part of Noble Corp., was selected to provide the Maersk Resilient harsh-environment jack-up rig for the drilling of the Pensacola well. Seabed operations for the placing of the rig were due to start towards the end of July.
Deltic Energy revealed on Tuesday that Shell has indicated that the preparations are now underway to move the Maersk Resilient drilling rig, now known as Noble Resilient, to the Pensacola location and mobilisation is planned to occur in early November. The well is expected to begin drilling in mid-November.
“The company looks forward to providing a further update when the rig is on-site at Pensacola and drilling has started,” Deltic Energy said.
Pensacola is a Zechstein Reef prospect located to the northwest of the Breagh gas field in the Southern North Sea. This prospect is estimated to contain gross P50 prospective resources of 309 BCF, with a 55 per cent geological chance of success, which will rank Pensacola as “one of the highest impact exploration targets to be drilled in the gas basin in recent years.”
The Gusto-engineered MSC CJ 50 high-efficiency jack-up rig that will drill this North Sea well for Shell was delivered in 2008.
【TotalEnergies】
TotalEnergies forms new Brazil renewable energy venture
French company TotalEnergies announced the creation of a new joint venture with Brazilian company Casa dos Ventos to set up a new renewable energy portfolio in Brazil.
TotalEnergies will hold 34 per cent of the new venture while Casa dos Ventos will hold 66 per cent. TotalEnergies said that it would pay $550 million in cash and a potential extra $30 million to complete the acquisition, and would have the option to buy an extra 15 per cent stake in the Brazil venture after 5 years.
【Exxon Mobil】
Exxon Makes More Oil And Gas Discoveries Offshore Guyana
U.S. oil and gas major Exxon Mobil has announced on Wednesday that it has made two more discoveries at the Sailfin-1 and Yarrow-1 wells in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, bringing discoveries on the block to more than 30 since 2015.
Exxon revealed that the Sailfin-1 well was drilled in 4,616 feet of water and encountered 312 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone, while the Yarrow-1 well was drilled in 3,560 feet of water and encountered 75 feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone.
Exxon did not disclose how much crude oil or gas it estimates the new discoveries to contain, but hiked a previous output forecast for the third quarter from older discoveries in the region.
The company says it has ramped up development and production offshore Guyana at a pace that 'far exceeds the industry average”, Exxon’s two sanctioned offshore Guyana projects, Liza Phase 1 and Liza Phase 2, are now producing above design capacity and have already achieved an average of nearly 360K bbl/day of oil. The supermajor expects total production from Guyana to cross a million barrels per day by the end of this decade.
Exxon said a third project, Payara, is expected to launch by year-end 2023 while a fourth project, Yellowtail, could kick off operations in 2025.
Exxon is the operator of the Stabroek block where it holds a 45% interest while partners Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) hold a 30% interest, respectively. Exxon’s oil and gas production are well below record levels, averaging 3.7M boe/day at midyear, in-line with last year but nearly 9% below 4.1M boe/day set in 2016.
XOM stock is currently trading at all-time highs having gained nearly 70% YTD, while its market cap of $442.3B makes it the world's 10th most valuable publicly traded company. Exxon is expected to report another strong quarter when it discloses Q3 results on October 28, with IBES Refinitiv estimating the company will report a record $54.8B annual profit this year.
【Vivo】
Vivo to sharpen mobile imaging
Chinese smartphone vendor Vivo will step up efforts to enhance mobile imaging capabilities via in-house research and development as well as joint innovation.
The move is part of the company's broader efforts to beef up its R&D prowess to stand out amid intensified competition.
Yu Meng, vice-president of imaging at Vivo, said the company is striving to make mobile imaging of its smartphones comparable to that of professional image equipment, a professional photography team and professional post-production capabilities.
Vivo has unveiled its second self-designed chip V1+ to boost professional imaging and display performance of smartphones earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the company has established a camera partnership with renowned German lens company Zeiss to refine the photo-taking capabilities of its smartphones.
In the first eight months of this year, the overall shipment of mobile phones in China totaled 175 million units, down 22.9 percent year-on-year, according to the latest data unveiled by China Academy of Information Technology and Communications earlier this week.
【Yili】
Chinese dairy giant Yili sees growing net profit in Jan-Sept
HOHHOT - Chinese dairy giant Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd posted a 1.47 percent year-on-year net profit growth for the first three quarters of 2022.
The firm's net profit exceeded 8.06 billion yuan ($1.12 billion) from January to September, according to its quarterly financial report released on Thursday.
During the period, the dairy giant generated revenue of nearly 93.5 billion yuan, an annual increase of 10.42 percent.
【CellWise】
Chinese chip company CellWise clarifies German acquisition
CellWise Microelectronics Co Ltd said it has not received any official decision or document so far from German authorities about its wholly-owned subsidiary's acquisition plan of an automobile chip manufacturing line in Germany. [Photo/cellwise-semi.com]
Chinese chip company CellWise Microelectronics Co Ltd said it has not received any official decision or document so far from German authorities about its wholly-owned subsidiary's acquisition plan of an automobile chip manufacturing line in Germany.
The comments came after the German media quoted sources stating that the German government plans to approve Silex Microsystems AB, a Sweden-based wholly subsidiary of CellWise, to acquire Germany company Elmos Semiconductor SE's auto chip line in Dortmund in the upcoming weeks.
CellWise said in a statement on Thursday that up to the present, neither the company nor its domestic and foreign subsidiaries have received any official decision or document from Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action regarding the approval result of foreign direct investment in this acquisition transaction.
All information related to this acquisition transaction shall be subject to the final decision of the German government and the official announcement document of the company, CellWise said.
Despite the clarification statement, CellWise's shares，which are listed in Shenzhen, surged as much as nearly 11 percent on Friday morning before the rise narrowed to about 7 percent.
【Twitter】
Elon Musk takes control of Twitter
Elon Musk completed his deal to buy Twitter at $44 billion Thursday, gaining control of the social network company, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the deal.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal have left the company's San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning, said the sources.
Musk lugged a sink into Twitter headquarters on Wednesday. 'Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!' he captioned the video, which he posted on Twitter. He also renamed himself 'Chief Twit' on the social network.
Musk had until Friday to complete his acquisition of Twitter or face a court battle with the company.
In April, Elon Musk announced the 44-billion-dollar acquisition of Twitter. Later in May, he said the deal was temporarily on hold as he asked for details on the number of the social platform's spam and fake accounts. Musk decided to terminate his deal to buy Twitter in July.
Twitter then sued him, alleging he 'refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.'
On Oct 4, Musk proposed to proceed with the deal at the original price, just ahead of a trial scheduled at the Delaware Chancery Court on Oct 17, in which Twitter was set to seek an order directing Musk to close the deal for $44 billion.
In a letter sent to Twitter, Musk offered to continue the deal if the court can adjourn the trial and all other related proceedings.
A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually ruled that Musk had until Oct 28 to cement the Twitter deal or head to trial.
【Foxconn】
Workers leave iPhone factory in Zhengzhou amid COVID curbs
Workers who assemble Apple Inc.’s new iPhone have walked out of their factory in northern China to avoid COVID-19 curbs after some coworkers were quarantined following a virus outbreak.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media platforms showed people said to be Foxconn workers climbing over fences and walking down a road laden with their belongings.
The scenes underscore growing public discontent with China’s “zero-COVID” strategy, where the government seeks to stamp out outbreaks by implementing strict testing, isolation and lockdown measures where infections are detected.
Outbreaks have led to entire cities going into lockdown. In the latest wave of infections, Shanghai Disney Resort said Monday that it would close as of Monday for an indefinite amount of time “to follow the requirement of pandemic prevention and control.”
In an online notice, the park apologized for the inconvenience and said it would provide refunds or exchanges for those affected by its closure.
The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, can accommodate up to 350,000 workers and is one of the largest factories in China assembling products for Apple Inc., including its latest iPhone 14 devices.
Not all the videos that showed workers purportedly leaving the facility could be verified. It was unclear if the workers leaving the facility had escaped or if they were allowed to leave.
Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Volunteers from nearby villages put out food and drinks for the Foxconn workers. One such volunteer, who asked to be identified only by his surname Zhang out of privacy concerns, was put in charge of distributing supplies that his village in Xingyang county had prepared. He said that the people shown in a video he uploaded to the short-video platform Douyin were Foxconn workers because they would have to take that road if they were leaving the facility.
It was unclear how many people are currently employed at the Zhengzhou factory, how many of them have left and how many were affected by factory's COVID-19 curbs.
【Boeing】
Boeing bullish on China's air travel biz
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co said driven by the growing commercial air travel demand and booming e-commerce business in China, the country's fleet size is expected to more than double over the next two decades.
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China's near-term growth, Boeing predicts that demand for air travel and airfreight will continue to grow through 2041, with the country's commercial fleet growing from around 3,900 aircraft to more than 9,600 through 2041, Boeing said on Thursday in Beijing.
By 2041, China will require 8,485 new airplanes valued at $1.5 trillion to serve passengers and trade. This represents more than one-fifth of global aircraft deliveries over the next two decades, as Chinese carriers look to replace older planes with more fuel-efficient models.
Notably, China's fleet size of air freighters is expected to more than quadruple to over 800 cargo planes through 2041 to meet the demand of the continued e-commerce growth and a strong industrial supply chain.
'We have full confidence that China's commercial aviation market will continue to prosper. China's economic fundamentals will continue to fuel the significant demand for both its passenger and cargo fleets,' said Peter Gao, Boeing vice-president of commercial sales and marketing in China.
Through 2041, passenger air traffic in China is expected to grow at 4.9 percent annually, and 1,570 widebody airplanes and 6,370 single-aisle airplanes will be needed to support a growing network of international and domestic routes. Demand for commercial services to support the rapid and healthy growth of the fleet will be valued at $545 billion, Boeing forecasted.
COVID-19 has had a devastatingly negative impact on the global aviation industry, but the global air travel market has been gradually recovering. As of August, the global air passenger volume resumed to 74 percent of the level seen in 2019 when there was no pandemic, according to the International Air Transport Association.
As of August, domestic markets of different countries have seen their passenger traffic resume to 85 percent of the 2019 level on average. For international markets, the volume resumed at 67 percent of the level in 2019. All single-aisle aircraft resumed operations globally, and 84 percent of widebody aircraft resumed operations, IATA found.
China's domestic air travel market is steadily picking up with the pandemic brought under better control nationwide, despite sporadic outbreaks of local cases.
Boeing expects that by 2041, China's civil aviation industry will require more than 412,000 new aviation personnel, including 126,000 pilots, 124,000 technicians and 162,000 cabin crew.
Currently, China stands as the second-largest market for Boeing, and the largest for its European rival, Airbus.
Meanwhile, the C919, China's first self-developed single-aisle passenger jet, received its type certificate in late September in Beijing from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, indicating the first plane can be delivered to China Eastern Airlines by the end of the year. The C919's competitors include aircraft models such as the single-aisle Boeing B737 and the Airbus A320.
'China has a huge market for new airplanes. Boeing and Airbus now serve as the duopoly for the global trunk aircraft market. The upcoming delivery of the C919 means China will be able to provide more choices for global carriers,' said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and a columnist at Carnoc, one of the largest civil aviation websites.
【BASF】
China remains priority partner for BASF: CEO
German firm BASF, the biggest foreign chemical investor in China, stands by its decision to step up its commitment to the country with the construction of the integrated Verbund site for $10 billion in Zhanjiang in South China's Guangzhou province.
Verbund sites are chemical production sites with highly interlinked product flows.
Germans should 'step away from China-bashing and look at ourselves a bit self-critically,' BASF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Martin Brudermueller said on Wednesday, calling on the government in Berlin to come up with a more comprehensive 'resilience strategy.'
BASF counts on continued growth in China, which is already an important market for the company, Brudermueller said when presenting the company's financial results for the third quarter of this year.
Last month, BASF inaugurated the first plant of its new Verbund site in Zhanjiang. It will produce 60,000 metric tons of engineering plastics annually, to be used in particular by China's car and electronics industries, according to the company.
'Overall, we came to the conclusion that it is advantageous to expand our involvement' in China, Brudermueller said.
Once completed in 2030, the Zhanjiang Verbund site will be one of the company's largest sites, serving as a 'role model of sustainable production both in China and globally,' BASF noted in a statement back in September.
'We benefit from China's policies of widening market access,' Brudermueller said at the inauguration ceremony in Zhanjiang. BASF plans to power the entire site with electricity from renewable sources and targets to achieve 100 percent by 2025.
Between January and September this year, BASF's sales in China rose 5.8 percent year-on-year to 9.2 billion euros ($9.2 billion), according to figures released on Wednesday. The company's total sales increased by 15.6 percent to 68 billion euros.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) decreased slightly to 6.5 billion euros in the first nine months. Due to high energy and raw materials prices, earnings in the third quarter (Q3) of the year slumped by 29 percent.
'Despite the significant weakening of the economic environment since the third quarter of 2022,' BASF did not lower its forecast for fiscal 2022 and expects sales to rise to between 86 billion euros and 89 billion euros.
【COSCO】
COSCO buys 24.9% stake in Hamburg terminal
The Hamburg port operating company, HHLA, welcomed a compromise decision announced by the German federal government on Wednesday for Chinese company COSCO Shipping Port Ltd (CSPL) to buy a stake in one of its three terminals.
The German cabinet agreed to allow CSPL to acquire a 24.9-percent stake instead of the initially planned 35 percent in the container terminal Tollerort in Hamburg in northern Germany.
'We appreciate that a solution has been found through objective and constructive talks with the federal government,' Angela Titzrath, chairwoman of HHLA's executive board, said in a press release on Wednesday.
German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck, of the Greens party, and the Free Democrats, another partner in the three-way coalition government, had voiced concerns about selling what they called a critical infrastructure facility to a Chinese company.
Some German lawmakers have fearmongered the project, saying it was creating dependency on China like Germany's dependency on Russian energy.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat and former mayor of Hamburg, has supported the deal and dismissed the criticism.
A federal government spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the chancellor had made clear that the bid was not about selling the port, but 'merely' a stake in a single terminal.
According to the deal, CSPL will have no voting rights, meaning no say in management or strategic decisions.
HHLA and CSPL had signed an agreement in September last year in which the Chinese company would acquire a minority share of 35 percent in Container Terminal Tollerort. The review process by the federal government dragged on until well into this year. In August, HHLA and CSPL agreed to extend the deadline until Oct 31 in order to bring the process to a successful conclusion.
'We want to continue to successfully develop the business relationship with COSCO that has existed for 40 years,' Titzrath said.
HHLA said that with CSPL's investment, CTT, the terminal company in which CSPL has 24.9 percent stake, will become a preferred hub for Asian traffic.
HHLA claims that it retains sole control over all major decisions, and COSCO will not receive any exclusive rights to CTT, and that the terminal will remain open to container volumes from all customers.
'The cooperation between HHLA and COSCO creates no one-sided dependencies. Quite the opposite: it strengthens supply chains, secures jobs and promotes value creation in Germany,' the company said.
It said that cooperation between the two partners also strengthens the position of Hamburg as a logistics hub in the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions and of the Federal Republic of Germany as an export nation.
The company said that open and free world trade is the basis for a city like Hamburg.
'A company like HHLA must and wants to maintain good relations with its Chinese trading partners,' HHLA said.
Hans-Jorg Heims, a spokesman for HHLA, said earlier that the issue had been unduly politicized. He argued that without Chinese investment, Hamburg will be at a disadvantage against other European competitors in which COSCO has a stake, such as in Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that China-Germany cooperation is mutually beneficial.
'Cooperation benefits both sides. We hope relevant parties will view China-Germany practical cooperation in a rational light and stop groundless hype,' he told a daily briefing in Beijing in response to a question about the potential deal.
Lai Suetyi, an associate professor in the Center for European Studies at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said that investment of a State-owned Chinese firm in Hamburg port, the third-largest in Europe, can no longer be a purely economic project in today's context.
The soaring energy price, the Russia-Ukraine conflict together with supply chain interruption 'lead to politicalization of any issue with 'systemic rival' like China,' she said, referring to European Union's policy in past years describing China as a cooperation partner, economic competitor and systemic rival.
【ConocoPhillips】
ConocoPhillips to further tap nation's green biz, growing LNG demand
United States oil and gas company ConocoPhillips said it is exploring opportunities to supply more liquefied natural gas from its current and future projects to the Chinese market for its growing demand for LNG.
'Regardless of the near-term uncertainty, our commitment to supplying LNG to China on a long-term basis will remain unchanged,' said Bill Bullock, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of ConocoPhillips.
'Nearly 10 million metric tons per annum LNG from our worldwide joint venture projects has been shipped to China to support the country's energy transition goals since 2016. We delivered the first US LNG cargo from Alaska to China in 2011,' Bullock said.
'With our growing LNG portfolio, we look forward to more cooperation opportunities that help meet China's growing energy demand and energy transition goals.'
China led the world in LNG imports last year with nearly 80 million metric tons, up 19 percent from the year before. Such an amount of LNG represented 65 percent of China's overall natural gas imports, and 30 percent of its total natural gas supply in 2021.
ConocoPhillips expects LNG to play an increasingly important role in helping meet the energy transition pathway demand, as it is lower in greenhouse gas emissions intensity than other alternatives like coal.
China is expected to attract more international energy suppliers with its burgeoning natural gas demand and global energy behemoths are already stepping up their existing LNG business to expand their presence in the country, said Li Ziyue, an analyst with BloombergNEF.
'Global energy giants are showing a growing interest in China's robust LNG market,' Li said.
'In addition to the signing of LNG sales and purchase agreements with Chinese companies, some international oil corporations have extended their cooperation ranging from participation in LNG receiving terminals to downstream LNG trading in the country.'
China's LNG imports have been gaining momentum since 2016.However, due to the rising import prices, China's gas and LNG demand is expected to slow down in 2022, after solid growth in 2021.
China's LNG imports are set to fall over 14 percent year-on-year to 69 million tons this year, said energy research and consultancy Wood Mackenzie earlier.
Bill Arnold, president of ConocoPhillips China, said in addition to LNG, the company hopes to deliver more oil to China in the future, while the company has also been actively evaluating opportunities in larger offshore wind farms, power from shore, and carbon capture and storage in China.
The company, together with China National Offshore Oil Corp, has been progressing with the Penglai offshore wind farm pilot project, which will deliver wind power to Penglai, Shandong province, to reduce emissions and costs, Arnold said.
The project is a first-of-its-kind integration of offshore wind power for offshore oil and gas facilities in China, and we expect it will be the benchmark for future low-carbon emission and intelligent oilfield developments, ConocoPhillips China said.
'As one of the largest foreign investors in the upstream oil and gas sector in China, ConocoPhillips has been impressed with and has benefited from China's rapid economic growth during the past four decades,' Arnold said.
'The visible efforts of Chinese policymakers in reforming the sector during the past few years are encouraging. We look forward to working together with our local partners to continue to drive forward the development of the industry.'
Bullish on China's green market, the company's president in China said he believes 'China will play a vital role in the global energy transition and the reform and opening-up efforts of the Chinese government will continue to enable ConocoPhillips to pursue new opportunities and help China to fulfill its growing energy needs'.
Dominic Macklon, executive vice-president of strategy, sustainability and technology for ConocoPhillips, said, 'Conoco-Phillips is planning to join the fifth China International Import Expo for the first time as an exhibitor this year.
'CIIE provides an important platform to promote greater collaboration and cooperation. We look forward to enhancing industry dialogues with multiple stakeholders in China.'