PetroChina intends to shift renewable development to the fast track, aiming for new energy to account for a third of its production by 2035.
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Chairman Dai Houliang told investors that in the race to reduce its carbon footprint, China’s largest oil company will aggressively boost renewable energy development while maximising its expertise and resources in natural gas exploration and production over the next 15 years.
“We target to have oil, gas and renewable energy each account for one-third of our total energy production by 2035,” he said.
In the first half of this year, the company produced 735 million barrels of oil equivalent, up 3.5%, comprising 443.1 million barrels of oil, down from 475 million barrels in the same period last year, and 2.16 trillion cubic feet of gas, up 6.7%.
The amount produced by renewables was too modest to make a difference.
Dai said one of his company’s advantages is its vast onshore acreages, which host tremendous geothermal, wind and solar resources.
Based on these resources, it has rolled out its renewables strategy with the focus on geothermal and solar.
A survey of PetroChina’s 15 oilfields show that they hold geothermal resources equating to 1.08 trillion tonnes of coal equivalent, of which 1.6 billion tonnes are recoverable, most of which are trapped in northern China’s Huabei, Dagang and Jidong oilfields.
Company president Huang Yongzhang said that projects involving geothermal, wind and solar under construction have total capacity of 350,000 tonnes of coal equivalent.
He added that PetroChina plans to add renewable energy production capacity of 3.45 million tonnes of coal equivalent in 2021, and has increased heating space covered by geothermal by 10 million square metres in the first half.
It has been granted a quota from the government to generate electricity from wind and solar.
In addition, the company has started the operation of two hydrogen refilling stations, with six more under construction.
Dai said earlier this year that PetroChina would strive to achieve net zero by 2050. As part of the efforts, it will set up an institute to work on the research and development of carbon capture and storage.
