Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China's global energy strategy has experienced three stages:"infancy", "growth" and "maturity". Chinese foreign energy cooperation has also gone through three periods chronologically, which include (1) the period when China got rid of its high dependence on oil imports from the Soviet Union, achieved self-reliance and even became a net exporter; (2) the period when China first focused on "bringing in" and then turned itself into a net importer of crude oil and refined oil; and (3) the period when China "went global" to engage in energy cooperation in diverse areas, gradually shifting into a leading role before launching the Belt and Road Initiative, which marked the full establishment of the Chinese global energy strategy. The objective of the Chinese global energy strategy has gradually changed from merely pursuing "energy strength" to transforming "energy strength" into "energy power"; the mission is mainly to "promote energy cooperation and energy revolution"; to implement this mission, China will provide international public goods to global and regional energy governance through energy diplomacy and services; and the areas covered by the strategy are countries and regions along the "Silk Road Economic Belt".

Over the past two decades, as the main battlefield of China's international energy cooperation, countries along the Belt and Road have had good foundations in the foreign investment. Through China's efforts to build the Belt and Road, energy cooperation has enjoyed first-mover advantages. Looking ahead, the countries along the Belt and Road are predicted to enjoy a promising future in energy cooperation because of their abundant energy resources, their role as complements to China's economic development, and their vast amounts of cooperation potential. At the same time, we are also keenly aware that there are a number of risks caused by geopolitics, policy changes, price fluctuations and legal compliance in energy cooperation among the countries along the Belt and Road. Moreover, it is urgent for Chinese enterprises to enhance their international capabilities. In this context, it is necessary to further maintain and make full use of their first-mover advantages and play a guiding and demonstrating role. Enterprises should actively adapt to new changes, while the government should make progress in policy coordination, facility connectivity, unimpeded trade, financed integration and people-to-people bonds, so as to keep deepening international energy cooperation and to build an energy silk road and a community with a shared future for energy.

This paper analyzes the basis for oil and gas cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative (hereinafter referred to "the cooperation") and future cooperation needs, puts forward the basic idea and concept of the cooperation, establishes the full industry chain coordination win-win strategic system of the cooperation, demonstrates four aspects of capacities needing to be constructed or improved for the strategy and specific measures, and then proposes relevant policy recommendations.

This paper analyzes the origin of the Belt and Road Initiative, the role of China's market-oriented development of natural gas in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, and the possibilities of natural gas cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road. In this paper, the implementation of the natural gas strategy under the Belt and Road Initiative and how it will promote the development of the natural gas industry chain are reviewed. The risks of implementing the Belt and Road Initiative are analyzed, especially in terms of the pricing mechanism, geopolitical risks, and seasonal risks.