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Asian action: a diverse picture of energy transition activity
23/4/2025
8 min read
Feature
Asia is a very large and diverse part of the world. At International Energy Week in February, a distinguished panel moderated by Mark Gainsborough FEI, Chairman of Seatrium, discussed the manifold challenges and opportunities of the energy transition for Asia, with regions both energy rich and energy poor working towards decarbonisation, new infrastructure and technology innovation. New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis reports.
China is clearly the leading player in the energy transition, from both a regional and international perspective. ‘You can’t imagine how quick China’s energy transition is,’ said Ruquan Lu, President of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Economics & Technology Research Institute.
He cited the sale of almost 13 million electric vehicles (EVs) in China last year, with market share exceeding 40%, replacing 28mn tonnes of gasoline, almost one seventh of fuel consumption. Furthermore, as the largest oil and gas producer in China, CNPC is projected to have about 800,000 t/y capacity for carbon capture and storage (CCS), as part of accumulated oil and gas volumes of 300mn tonnes. Last year about 200,000 toe was enhanced oil recovery. Generally, CNPC and other state-owned enterprises are using a combination of coal plus CCS and hydrogen, or coal plus wind or solar, in addition to oil and gas as energy resources.
China’s goal is to reach net zero in 2060 – ‘a huge challenge’, remarked Gainsborough.