China's foreign oil dependence to rise, but 2015 limit set at 61% of needs
Singapore (Platts)--24Jan2013/532 am EST/1032 GMT
China's dependence on foreign crude oil and refined oil products is set
to increase, but the government has placed a cap at 61% of total requirements
for the end of the current five-year economic plan in 2015, according to a
new government blueprint for energy development.
The foreign oil dependence will be an increase from 26% seen in 2000 and
57% in 2011, the government said in its 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) for
energy development released late Wednesday.
The country's crude production capacity will still be 200 million
mt/year (4 million b/d) in 2015, unchanged from 2010.
Instead, refinery capacity will increase significantly. The country will
develop three large-scale refinery hubs along China's eastern coast in the
Bohai area, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. It will also
accelerate development of 10 million mt/year refinery complexes in Zhenhai,
Zhejiang, Huizhou, Luoyang, Henan and Xinjiang through upgrades and
expansions.
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In addition, foreign investment and resources will be used to
help develop projects in Tianjin, Caofeidian industrial zone in Hebei,
Taizhou, Zhejiang, Zhanjiang, Jieyang, Yunnan and Quanzhou. These refer to
new refinery projects which involve foreign partners or will be underpinned
by foreign crude sources.
By 2015, China's refining capacity will reach 620 million mt/year (12.45
million b/d), with oil products output at 330 million mt/year, the plan said.
In 2012, China's apparent oil demand averaged 9.68 million b/d,
according to Platts calculations. Refinery runs were 9.37 million b/d while
net crude imports averaged 5.38 million b/d and net oil product imports were
303,000 b/d.
In the upstream sector, China will accelerate exploration and
development of offshore oil and gas resources, with a focus on the deepwater.
During the five-year period, natural gas production capacity --
including conventional gas, coalbed methane and shale gas -- will rise an
average 10.5% per year to 156.6 billion cubic meters (15.1 Bcf/day) by 2015,
from 94.8 billion cu m in 2010. Actual gas production is expected to
exceed 130 billion cu m/year.
The government is targeting to discover 6.5 billion mt of new proved
geological reserves of conventional oil every year, while conventional
natural gas reserves are expected to rise by 3.5 trillion cu m annually.
CBM and shale gas proved geological reserves are targeted to rise by 10
billion cu m/year and 6 billion cu m/year, respectively to 2015. Commercial
production is expected to reach 20 billion cu m/year for CBM and 6.5 billion
cu m/year for shale gas by then.
Natural gas will make up 7.5% of China's total energy mix by 2015, with
coal falling to around 65%. The government said it will limit the country's
total annual energy consumption at 4 billion mt of coal equivalent by the end
of 2015.
In the power sector, gas-fired power generation capacity will grow 16.2%
annually to reach 56 GW/year by 2015, with total power generation
capacity rising 9% annually to reach 1,490 GW/year, up from 970 GW/year in
2010.
The plan envisages the development of five main primary energy
production bases in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, the Ordos Basin as well as
Xinjiang and another part of northwestern China, with total energy production
capacity of 2.66 billion mt of coal equivalent, representing over 70% of
China's total production capacity.
China will also continue pricing reform in the power, oil and gas
sectors through regulations, taxation and other policies, the plan said.
--Song Yen Ling, yen_ling_song@platts.com
--Edited by Geetha Narayanasamy, geetha_narayanasamy@platts.com