Page 10 - AsianOil Week 12 2021

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While the Saudi oil giant last year pulled out ever refuelling station, located in Hebei Prov-
of state-run Norinco’s planned 300,000 barrel ince, which will be the first of a planned network
per day complex in Liaoning Province, Aramco of 50 such facilities.
already owns 25% of the Sinopec-led 280,000 The country’s installation of renewable power
bpd Fujian refinery and agreed in 2018 to buy capacity, meanwhile, continues to race ahead of
9% stake of the privately owned 800,000 bpd an anticipated surge in power demand driven by
ZPC refinery. the swelling number of new EVs on the road.
Such ambitions are not without their hur- The National Energy Administration (NEA)
dles, however. Not only has state-owned China announced in January that 48.2 GW of solar had
National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) projected been added to the national total in 2020, up from
that oil demand will peak within the next four 30.1 GW added in 2019 and 44.3 GW installed
years, but the country is witnessing an ongoing in 2018. The country added 71.67 GW of wind
push for downstream consolidation amid surg- power capacity in 2020, up from around 26 GW
ing overcapacity that could limit investment installed in 2019.
opportunities.
What next
Peak demand Aramco understands that Chinese oil demand
CNPC’s oil research arm predicted in Decem- is set to dwindle in line with the Asian country’s
ber 2020 that the country’s annual oil demand pursuit of carbon emission curbs and an expan-
would peak at 730mn tonnes (14.66mn bpd) sion of renewable energy capacity.
by around 2025. It expects total primary energy It has, therefore, sought to target opportu-
consumption to peak at 5.6bn tonnes of standard nities in the petrochemical space while billing
coal equivalent by around 2035. itself as a reliable hydrocarbons supplier capable
CNPC has projected that natural gas demand of supporting the country as it transitions away
will climb by around 2.8% per year over the next from oil and gas.
two decades, peaking at 550bn cubic metres by Aramco will also be eager to further develop
around 2040. The shift to improve energy effi- its blue ammonia and hydrogen capacity, after
ciency and boost supply of clean energy sources having become the first company to successfully
will likely see coal consumption begin to fall produce and ship the fuel in September 2020.
from 2025 to 2.9bn tonnes in 2035 and just Aramco, in partnership with SABIC and the
900mn tonnes in 2050. Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ),
China’s largest oil and gas producer has shipped 40 tonnes of blue ammonia to Japan for
also predicted that new energy vehicles use in zero-carbon power generation.
(NEVs) will account for more than 30% of Hydrogen demand from Asia in general, and
the country’s active vehicles by 2035, 50% by China in particular, is widely expected to boom
2040 and nearly 80% in 2050. NEVs include in the coming years as pressure mounts on gov-
electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid and ernments to do more to reduce their national
hydrogen vehicles. carbon footprints. And it is just another poten-
In order to meet hydrogen demand, CNPC tial growth sector Aramco stands to capitalise
announced on March 16 the start-up of its first upon.™

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