OIES: China’s Natural Gas Development Report – A Tale of Two Years - Fabruary 2021 - eng (pdf)

China’s 2020 Natural Gas Development Report (NGDR), assessing the current state of the country’s gas industry and how it relates to the broader global gas market, was published late last year. If 2019’s focus was on the seemingly inexorable rise in China’s demand for gas, the 2020 reports theme has been the impact of coronavirus. Despite a significant economic hit in the first half, 2020 saw positive economic growth in China – the only major economy to do so. Many of the 2019 themes carried over into the 2020 NGDR, such as sector reform – with the creation of PipeChina a major step forward – and supply security concerns, while China’s pledge to be carbon neutral by 2060 is one issue likely to be addressed in the 2021 NGDR as well as the national Five-Year Plans to be released later this year.

By: Stephen O'Sullivan