Review on the challenges and strategies in oil and gas industry's transition towards carbon neutrality in China

In light of carbon-neutral pledge, the oil and gas industry has been facing several critical new challenges in China. The current status and new challenges in terms of market mechanism reform, supply-consumption balance and key technology innovation in China's oil and gas industry are reviewed in the present study, and new strategies and roadmaps are proposed to cope with the challenges. The study found that (i) the oil and gas market faces challenges such as incomplete pricing mechanisms, unclear subject rights, and the lack of recognition and trading of carbon assets. (ii) the trade-off between short-term supply security and long-term low-carbon supply is the most critical issue. (iii) in addition to typical challenges such as immature technology and lack of funding support, the unclear multiple technology coupling development mode also poses problems for the low-carbon transformation of the oil and gas industry. To address these new challenges, comprehensive strategies and roadmaps for China's oil and gas industry towards carbon neutrality are proposed and discussed in the aspects of participating in market transactions, restructuring production and consumption, deploying key technology innovations, and planning enterprise strategies. The present study is expected to provide a blueprint for the future development of China's oil and gas industry towards carbon neutrality. © 2023 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications