Due to the impact of COVID-19 and other factors, since 2020, apart from the steady growth in coal consumption, the consumption of oil and natural gas has experienced fluctuations. Statistics from relevant organizations indicate that in 2023, the consumption of oil and coal will reach a new high, and there will be a recovery in the growth of natural gas consumption. During the three years of COVID-19 and the global energy crisis, coal, the most conventional fossil fuel, saved the world. Coupled with the growth in the consumption of oil and natural gas in 2023, it is evident that, amidst the surge of energy transition, all three conventional fossil fuels are silently undertaking the significant responsibility for ensuring the energy needs of human society.

This paper discusses UHS characteristics, introduces the geological structures and industrial practices of UHS, and reviews UHS research current situation and main scientific problems. The main advantages of underground hydrogen storage are:1) large-scale storage, 2) long-term storage, 3) low-cost storage, and 4) higher safety. Salt caverns, depleted gas reservoirs and aquifers are three main types of geological structures suitable for UHS. There have been some operation cases of pure hydrogen storage in salt caverns, and only a few of mixed hydrogen storage has been stored in depleted gas reservoirs and aquifers. Underground hydrogen storage will be technically and economically feasible. Industrial-scale application of underground hydrogen storage technology involves geological, technical, economic, legal and social factors. The cost reduction of hydrogen production by electrolysis will be a decisive factor for implementation of the underground hydrogen storage on an industrial scale. Underground hydrogen storage began in the 1970s, but only in the 2010s did the EU and the US take it seriously, and many research and demonstration projects have been launched. In general, UHS technology is still in its infancy and not yet mature.

Hydrogen has the characteristics of green and low carbon, wide range of sources and diverse application scenarios, which is of great significance to global climate change. The industrial chain of hydrogen "production, storage, transportation and addition" is highly compatible with traditional oil and gas business, and oil and gas enterprises have natural advantages in developing hydrogen. In recent years, integrated international oil companies have accelerated their involvement in the field of "blue hydrogen and green hydrogen", actively explored hydrogen storage and transportation technologies, expanded the layout of hydrogen energy filling networks, carried out crossindustry and cross-border cooperation, and expanded the scale of the hydrogen energy industry. By analyzing the market potential and current challenges of the hydrogen industry, and benchmarking the hydrogen development model of international oil companies, the suggestions for the future hydrogen energy development of oil and gas companies are as follows:first, systematically consider the upstream, mid-stream and downstream, and deploy the entire hydrogen industry chain; second, strengthen investment in key technologies, continue to shape the core advantages; the third is to carry out extensive domestic and international cooperation to expand the hydrogen market share.

This paper reviews the changes in international oil prices, world oil demand and oil production in 2021-2022, collates the upstream business performance, asset changes, exploration expenditure and progress in reserve replacement of international oil companies, and summarizes the oil production trend, development strategies for oil and gas businesses, energy transition and business diversification of major oil companies in the coming years. The study finds that the oil market has been highly uncertain in recent years, and oil prices may remain at a moderate or high level in the short term; despite the rising oil prices, oil companies are spinning off their upstream businesses; and the differentiated transformation of oil companies has entered a substantive stage. On these grounds, two recommendations for the high-quality development of the oil and gas businesses of Chinese oil companies are proposed:First, Cost decreasing and benefit increasing around the main oil and gas businesses should be continuously promoted; Second, Business planning should be enhanced to achieve global optimal oil and gas businesses.

 

Cross-border capital flow is an important indicator in the field of economy and finance, and a key factor affecting global financial stability. Studying the law of cross-border capital flow is of great significance to grasp the macroeconomic situation. Based on the concept and historical law of crossborder capital flow, we find three characteristics of cross-border capital flow since this year:large-scale capital flow back to the United States, increasing pressure of capital outflow from emerging markets, and net capital inflow into China. Based on the analysis of historical laws, it is expected that crossborder capital will still return to the United States in the second half of the year, and emerging market countries will also face greater capital outflow pressure. The trend of cross-border capital flows will have a profound impact on interest rates, exchange rates and oil prices, resulting in multiple risks faced by oil and gas enterprises, such as the debt default of resource countries, the increase of overseas financing costs, the increase of exchange rate risks and the downward trend of oil prices. We suggest establishing an early warning mechanism to avoid the risks.

As a primary energy source with such advantages as low development costs and carbon-free emissions, natural hydrogen holds immense potential for China’s clean energy revolution. This study reviews global cases of natural hydrogen exploration and concludes that the water-rock reaction in iron-rich rock is the most significant source of natural hydrogen generation. Natural hydrogen is primarily found in geological settings such as subduction zones, rift zones, and banded iron formations (BIFs) from the Precambrian era. Based on the distribution of these three geological environments, the most promising zones for natural hydrogen exploration in China are pointed out, including the intracontinental rift zones in Songliao Basin, overlap area of BIFs and the extensional basin of the North China Craton, developed zones of BIFs and large igneous provinces in Tarim Craton, southwest margin of Yangtze Plate, and Sanshui Basin.

Under global consensus on carbon neutrality and the intensification of regional conflicts, new energy has become the primary direction for various countries to achieve energy security and green development. Represented by wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen and stored energy, and controllable nuclear fusion, the technological and scale advantages of new energy are being continuously strengthened. Low-cost wind, solar, and stored energy will support the global energy transition. The production and utilization of new energy enter a rapid development phase. In 2022, the average global consumption of new energy accounted for 18.2%, and it is expected to reach around 55% by 2050. The distribution of the world’s energy resources, consumption regions, technological development, per capita consumption, energy-saving fields, and carbon emissions is uneven. The acceleration of low-carbon development in fossil fuels, the scale-up of renewable energy, and the intelligentization of energy management drives the rapid transition of global energy.

China has pledged to the world to achieve carbon peak in 10 years and carbon neutrality in 30 years. This is an extremely arduous task, as it faces numerous challenges, including high energy consumption, heavy reliance on coal within its energy mix, and a large base of carbon emissions that must be controlled. To this end, it is necessary to advance the new energy security strategy of “Four Revolutions, One Cooperation” to a deeper level. According to interpretations from various parties, the new energy system is preliminarily summarized to have six features: new energy structure, new system form, new industrial system, new governance system, new system and mechanism, and new regulatory method. Considering building a new energy system comprehensively, “Ten Commitments” have been proposed to help achieve the dual-carbon goals. The specific measures include: ensuring the security and stability of energy supply, accelerating the transformation to green and low-carbon energy, giving priority to energy conservation and efficiency improvement, promoting multi-energy complementation and synergistic and integrated development, enhancing the digital intelligence level in the energy industry, developing centralized and distributed energy, advancing the rural energy revolution, developing critical and core technological equipment and the comprehensive energy service industry, and promoting high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

In 2023, China’s natural gas sector experienced robust growth in both supply and demand dynamics, as consumption regained an upward trend, reaching 394.53 billion m3, reflecting a 7.6% year-on-year surge. Domestic gas production and reserves persistently progressed, hitting a production volume of 228.84 billion m3 and achieving a seven-year consecutive increment exceeding 10 billion m3. After an initial sharp decline, imported natural gas rebounded to record growth; the combined import volume of pipeline gas and LNG climbed to 163.92 billion m3, a notable 11.3% rise compared to the previous year. As China’s policies for stable economic growth are further entrenched in 2024, the macroeconomic recovery is anticipated to continue. Bolstered by the dual-carbon strategy and the transformative policies targeting high-energy-consuming industries, the natural gas market is expected to sustain its rapid expansion, with estimated growth in demand ranging between 5.8% and 7.1%.

Amidst the pround changes in the global energy landscape, Chinese petroleum refining enterprises are facing a critical phase of digital transformation.This study examines both the prevalent global energy situation and the current status of Chinese petroleum refining enterprises . It elucidates the precise implementations of digital intelligence technology in various aspects such as production operation monitoring, energy management, and safety protocols, with a case study focus on Lanzhou Petrochemical Company. Drawing on practical experiences, this paper summarizes scientific management methodologies and decision-making frameworks. The aim is to provide theoretical support for the digital transformation and advancement of Chinese petroleum refining enterprises, while presenting fresh perspectives and guidelines for the industry's sustainable progress.

China’s refining and petrochemical industry has developed rapidly, with the quality of industry development improving rapidly. The scale of oil refining, ethylene, and PX ranks first in the world, and the quality of refined oil is among the world’s leading levels. However, the industry’s profitability is not strong enough, and there are still technological shortcomings, as well as defects in industry structure and product structure. Under the backdrop of the dual carbon goals, energy transition, electric revolution, and demand differentiation, China’s refining and petrochemical industry will continue to exert efforts in energy conservation and consumption reduction, integrated development with new energy, promotion of oil conversion and the conversion of oil to special products, integration and upgrading of capacity, development of green hydrogen refining and CCUS, diversification of raw materials, circular economy, and other aspects to enhance industrial competitiveness.

After more than ten years, offshore wind power industry in China has got into a new stage of high-quality development. The economy has gradually improved to be affordable, floating wind power has been in the stage of engineering, and integrated development innovation has been flourished. Industrial policy system of offshore wind power has gradually been established and improved. A series of measures work together to promote the industrial clusters and guide the persistent and healthy development. The current policy framework was sorted in this research. The national and local government policy guidance was analyzed from the aspects of development planning, resource allocation, enterprise support, scientific research support, power system, financial services, etc. Aiming at the problems of industrial layout, organization mode, integration of industry and finance faced, policy suggestions were proposed, i.e., planning as a whole to the sites and industrial layout as well as corresponding policies, promoting the integration and coordination of the floating offshore wind industrial chain, and strengthening the guidance and innovation support of green finance.

Nowadays, the carbon markets in the world have increasingly matured and carbon trading have flourished in China. In the framework of carbon trading, the carbon emission right has become a tradable special commodity, and it has financial feature and asset feature. Relying on the business entities, carbon assets management joins up the virtual carbon emission right, financial capital and real economy, restructures existing carbon resources of enterprises and impacts the current international economic pattern. At present, however, the carbon assets management systems and market rules of our country remains to be perfect. How to increase the efficiency of carbon asset management, how to further improve the carbon management, how to further improve the carbon asset management method and mechanism have become the common issue of China’s academia and practice.

The “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) has been put forward for ten years,during which energy cooperation has always been a key focus. Driven by energy revolution and China’s economic mode transition, energy cooperation has new characteristics of the era, that is, its quality is getting higher. Based on the goal of “high-quality energy cooperation”, this paper discusses the achievements of energy cooperation among BRI countries over the past ten years, analyzes the existing issues, and focuses on the state, enterprises, financial institutions, and the society to achieve a comprehensive evolution of high-quality energy cooperation through multi-level collaboration.