China’s $470 Billion Oil and Gas Splurge Is Just the Start
Domestic production is vital to Beijing’s view of energy security. Officials are leaving nothing to chance.
Cnooc Ltd.'s 11-1 CEPJ Caofeidian platform in the Bohai Sea.
Source: Cnooc Ltd.
Some 20 kilometers out from the port of Tianjin, in the jade waters of the Bohai Sea, a vast metal structure rises above the surface. This hulking offshore platform, 11-1 CEPJ, is the beating heart of the Caofeidian oil and gas field — and a monument to China’s multibillion-dollar efforts to insulate itself from the whims of its rivals.
China has long sought to reduce the risk that comes with being both the world’s top consumer and its largest importer of energy. But the urgency and scale of that ambition have increased dramatically in recent years and months, along with geopolitical tension and the ascent of a mercurial Donald Trump to helm a US administration unafraid to use trade as a weapon. Last month, Washington also blacklisted Russia’s top two oil producers, prompting Chinese refiners to cancel some cargoes.