As national security and economic operation are increasingly dependent on mineral resources, global supply risks and price fluctuations of mineral resources have intensified international competition. The development of clean energy requires a variety of minerals with a large volume. Critical minerals have become constraint factors in energy transition, and the energy-minerals relationship has become the focus of attention for industry institutions and research fellows. In the context of enhanced vulnerability of the global mineral resource supply chain, insufficient domestic resource reserves and high external dependence, critical deep-sea mineral resources are expected to become important supply guarantees. Based on the analysis of the domestic and foreign supply and demand situation of minerals needed for the development of clean energy, this paper discusses how the development of critical deep-sea minerals can effectively support the energy transition in terms of resource potential, development status and domestic deep-sea mining development environment. Research suggests that the development of marine mineral resources to facilitate energy transition is a feasible but long and bumpy road. It is urgent to promote the commercialization of marine mineral resource development by studying the clean energy-minerals coupling relationship, improving the standardization of management, deepening scientific and technological innovation and opening up to and cooperation with the outside world.

The “Belt and Road” Initiative is sustainable and green. As an important action point for building a green “Belt and Road” Initiative, clean energy can effectively reduce carbon emissions from energy consumption, making it an effective way to achieve the global energy transition and “Dual Carbon Goals”. This paper analyses the necessity to conduct international cooperation on clean energy and the problems inherent in that process under the “Belt and Road” Initiative, then discusses examples of international clean energy cooperation modes such as the reference of international traditional energy cooperation mode, international clean energy industrial park cooperation mode, international clean energy integration cooperation mode, “Internet+” smart clean energy cooperation mode, and international clean energy PPP cooperation mode.

This year, due to geopolitical factors, concerns in the European natural gas market have intensified and spread to the Asian market. Europe has taken the measure of increasing LNG imports to make up for the decline in pipeline gas imports, and LNG imports from the United States have increased substantially, resulting in tightened supply and demand in the United States. The supply and demand of the global natural gas market are expected to be increasingly tight throughout the year.

Proven undeveloped reserves (PUDs) refers to discovered proven reserves that are difficult to develop, require high costs for production, have low commercial value or are temporarily not put into commercial development under the existing technological and economic conditions. Sinopec’s PUDs are dominated by deep- and ultra-deep reservoirs with ultra-low permeability, high-density, low-pressure coefficient and low abundance. These oil reservoirs have narrow storage space and complex storage status, leading to difficulties in predicting effective reservoirs, low single-well production, high production cost and difficulties in benefit generation. Since the “13th Five-year Plan” period, Sinopec’s upstream sector in China has taken the effective development of PUDs as an important measure to ensure national energy security. It has made every effort to promote innovation, cost reduction and reform to generate benefits, made a series of new technological progress and management achievements, and effectively revitalized a batch of resources.