Themed on “Green Energy and Low Carbon Economy”, the 2017 Sanya Energy International Forum (SEIF) was held in Sanya, Hainan on December 7-8. The experts present at the forum expected that China’s energy industry would develop towards organic integration of various energy sources as well as integrated and complementary distributed energy sources.
Nearly 300 domestic and foreign leading experts and scholars specializing in energy gathered together to discuss energy transformation.
The International Energy Agency predicted that China’s demand for energy will reach 5 billion tons of standard coal by 2020, and by 2035, China will surpass the US to become the world’s largest energy consumer.
Li Shousheng, President of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said that today China has become the fastest growing producer of crude oil, refined oil and natural gas in the world. China’s crude output in 2016 was 200 million tons, and domestic crude output has stabilized at more than 200 million tons for 6 consecutive years since 2010. At present, China’s crude output ranks the fifth in the world, accounting for about 4.7% of the world’s crude output.
The experts denoted that China’s energy transformation is confronted with many challenges. In view of current energy structure and atmospheric pollution, we should focus on optimizing energy structure and enlarging the proportion of renewable energy.
Zheng Xinli, Executive President of China Association of Policy Science, thought that it was necessary to accelerate the construction of infrastructure and ships for the import of natural gas, strengthen the exploration and development of domestic natural gas, especially shale gas, including the exploration and development of marine combustible ice, speed up the clean and efficient utilization of coal-to-natural gas and coal, and accelerate the development and utilization of biomass and renewable energy.
Zheng Xinli said, “In the Ordos Basin, the annual output of coal is 900 million tons. If we can extract the small molecules of natural gas and oil from within the coal by using the relatively mature low-temperature pyrolysis method, we can provide about 100 million tons of oil and natural gas each year, which could replace a considerable part of imported natural gas and oil.”
Lin Huajun, President and CEO of Changfeng Energy Inc., pointed out that the key to adjust industrial structure and transform the mode of economic growth is to adjust the utilization structure of primary energy.
Lin Huajun said, “The active development of new energy, continuous improvement of energy conversion technology, enhancement of energy utilization efficiency, innovation of energy utilization technology and supply service business model, as well as the achievement of energy conservation and emission reduction, all have a long-term strategic significance to promote China’s rapid economic development, and realize industrial upgrading and environmental protection.”