The transformational development of the oil and gas industry is urgent in order to achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality. As the use of volatile renewable energy sources continues to grow in the new energy system, there is a need to systematically improve the flexibility of the energy system. “Integration of energy, grid, load and storage” and comprehensive energy services is the way forward. Oil and gas enterprises need to strengthen their own transformational change to achieve the conversion of new kinetic energy. According to the characteristics of the oil and gas industry and the requirements of energy transition, improving energy efficiency, innovatively developing the natural gas industry, providing good energy services, promoting digitalization, and actively engaging in new energy fields such as hydrogen energy are important action points for the transformational development of the oil and gas industry. It is recommended that oil and gas enterprises “remain firmly grounded while setting their sights on the future”, coordinate short-term and long-term strategies; actively reform to obtain greater development momentum in a market-oriented environment; innovate business models, and be user-centered for comprehensive energy development; increase technology input and be determined in new strategic directions.

2022 has seen continuous release of energy policies. Influenced by changes in domestic and international situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis, the European energy crisis, the China-US game, and climate change, Chinese central government has attached great importance to energy security. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Work Conference made important instructions on the development of China’s energy, which reflect the systematicness and synergy of China’s energy security concept. A series of “14th Five-Year Plan” and medium to long-term special energy development plans have been successively issued. The “Dual-Carbon” 1+N policy system has been basically established. The energy field is of paramount importance to achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality; thus, reform and protection policies have been intensively released, and the construction of a national unified energy market has made great progress, making overall energy security and green development become the main policy themes. For oil and gas companies, opportunities outweigh challenges. They should follow the national policies, make good use of resource and technological advantages, continue to consolidate the main business of oil and gas production, develop emerging businesses and accelerate green, low-carbon transformation.

This paper elaborates on the key points of the latest developments in methane emissions reduction policies in the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.) and makes a comparative analysis of their policy frameworks. There are similarities between the EU and the U.S. in terms of methane emissions reduction measures, but there are also significant differences. For instance, the EU has proposed requirements for fossil energy imports, placing greater emphasis on the role of international organizations. On the basis of comparative analysis, this paper presents insights for China from the perspectives of the target, policy, data, emission reduction path, utilization as energy, and international influence.

Carbon politics is quietly emerging, and countries around the world are divided into three categories. Western developed countries consuming clean energy are classified as the first category. Energy-importing developing countries are included in the second category, and resource-rich countries relying on fossil fuel export are sorted as the third category. Countries of the “three categories” have already and will continue to play games over “dual carbon” round after round. The goal of Western countries’ carbon politics is to continue to lead the world, stay ahead, and use their advantage of low emission to extract carbon benefits. Energy-importing developing countries face threats and opportunities. Resource-rich countries are unable to tackle the situation without aggravating another problem. China should narrow its gap in the new energy industry with Western developed countries, continue to promote natural gas pipeline construction to ensure energy security, control the pace to realize the “dual carbon” goal, and strive for its own legitimate rights and interests.

In 2022, China’s natural gas industry had weak supply and demand, and for the first time in 40 years, the natural gas consumption experienced negative growth, with an apparent consumption of 366.3 billion m3, a year-on-year decrease of 1.7%. The production and reserves of domestic gas continued to increase, with a production of 216.9 billion m3, and an increase of over 10 billion m3 of production for six consecutive years. Imported natural gas had a significant decline for the first time, with imported pipeline gas and LNG totalling 148.5 billion m3 in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 10.9%. In 2023, China’s macroeconomics will continue to recover, and the low-carbonization development of clean energy under the dual-carbon strategy will promote rapid growth in the natural gas market. The demand increment and growth rate will be significantly higher than that in 2022, with an expected growth rate of 5.5%-6.8%.

The global oil price fluctuated widely at a high level throughout 2022 due to the combined impact of limited investment growth in global upstream oil and gas, the increasing regional geopolitical risks of oil and gas driven by the Ukraine Crisis, and a slower global economic growth resulting from repeated COVID-19 outbreaks, which exerted a negative influence on the global oil and gas resource M&A market. The total number of global oil and gas resource M&A transactions in 2022 was only 215, down by 19% from 2021 and close to the lowest level in 20 years. The total amount of M&A transactions was only USD 88 billion, down by about 36% from 2021. The global oil and gas M&A market in 2022 had four overall characteristics: First, the number and amount of transactions worldwide showed a “double decline” trend, with the number of transactions in Africa hitting an eight-year high; second, the overall amount of M&A transactions by various international oil companies decreased, and international oil giants continued to sell “non-core” oil and gas assets; third, the Implied Long-Term Oil Price continued to rise, with significant differences from the trend of international oil prices; fourth, in North America, unconventional oil and gas asset transactions remained active, and the amount of oil sand transactions approached the highest value in nearly 10 years. Looking forward to 2023, with the international oil price fluctuating at a high level and the global epidemic gradually becoming stable, it is expected that M&A activities in Africa and South America will significantly increase, international oil giants will seek transactions on both the buying and selling sides, and unconventional oil and gas resource transactions in North America will still be a market hotspot.

Since the beginning of 2022, due to the combined effects of extreme weather, oil and gas geopolitical risks and other factors, the natural gas inventory in Europe has reached historic lows, so Europe is actively seeking to increase natural gas imports from around the world. Africa is relatively geographically close to Europe, enjoys rich natural gas resource endowment, and has made major discoveries in recent years, so it may have greater potential for increasing natural gas supply to Europe in the future. This article studies the potential and relevant risks of increase in African natural gas supply, and the authors believe that more than 15 million tons/year of new LNG production capacity will be increased by around 2025 as 4 projects in Africa were approved before 2022 including the Coral FLNG project under construction in Mozambique, which will have a positive effect on diversified natural gas supply to Europe. The LNG project under construction in Mozambique and the proposed projects such as LNG project in Tanzania have the potential to further increase natural gas exports to Europe, but like NMGP project and other pipeline natural gas export projects, these projects are subject to different risk factors and their development prospect is highly uncertain. In the medium and long term, Africa, along with countries and regions such as North America, the Middle East, and Australia, will jointly promote a large-scale increase in global natural gas supply between 2025 and 2030, and Europe will lead the transformational development of the global energy industry.

Urban gas is one of the main fields of natural gas consumption in China, accounting for more than half of the total natural gas consumption. Urban gas enterprises show a diversified development pattern and are gradually transforming to comprehensive energy service providers. In the future, under the background that the national natural gas consumption market will continue to grow, CO2 emission constraints, environmental protection requirements will promote the increase of urban gas consumption. It is expected that the urban gas consumption will reach 260 billion m3 in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 7%. Industrial, commercial and residential gas consumption is the main field of urban gas consumption. State owned oil companies have the advantages of natural gas resources and capital. It is suggested that while being the main force of urban gas supply increase and providing resource support for urban gas supply increase, they should strengthen the construction of natural gas industry chain, supplement the short board of industrial chain and cooperate in the development of urban gas business.