Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me to warmly welcome His Excellency, Zhang Jianhua, Administrator of the National Energy Administration of the People’s Republic of China, and his delegation to the OPEC Secretariat for the 7th High-level Meeting of the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue.
The Chinese philosopher and thinker, Confucius, was correct in stating how delightful it is to have friends coming from afar. Your Excellency, we greatly value your presence here today, and hope to be able to return the hospitality my team and I enjoyed in Beijing at the 6th High-level Meeting of our dialogue last May.
I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to our good friend, the Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna, His Excellency, Ambassador LI Song.
Through the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue, our pragmatic framework for cooperation has never been stronger. Indeed, our regular exchanges of views – at all levels – on energy issues of common interestremain extremely valuable, contributing to stability in the oil market in the interests of producers, consumers and the global economy alike, and in helping meet the challenges we face in evolving a sustainable energy future for all.
Against this backdrop, I look forward to today’s discussions on various topics, including following up on the 6th High-Level Meeting of the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue; exchanging views on global energy market outlooks; considering the future of oil in energy transitions; and exploring areas of cooperation between China and OPEC.
On the latter, since our last meeting, I was pleased to send a video address to the 2023 International Forum on Energy Transition, held in Jiangsu Province in September 2023. It was also an honour to accept Ambassador Li’s kind invitation to participate in the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations on 31 January this year, marking the onset of the Year of the Wood Dragon. The Wood Dragon heralds good fortune and represents unprecedented opportunity – an apt metaphor for our relationship.
In addition, we appreciated that students from China participated at the 8th OPEC International Seminar in July 2023 and that – at the technical level – analysts and researchers from the OPEC Secretariat continue to regularly liaise with their counterparts in China’s National Energy Administration.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
President Xi Jinping’s vision for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has been one of the most significant global economic developments this century.
China is central to the continued expansion of the global economy, and earlier this month, at the National People’s Congress, His Excellency Premier Li Qiang underlined China’s GDP growth target of around 5% for this year, the attainment of which will undoubtedly benefit the global economy.
In this respect, OPEC Member Countries – which accounted for almost half of China’s total crude oil imports in 2023 – will continue to act as reliable partners in providing the affordable energy China needs to drive its growth.
OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report noted that China was expected to be the engine of global oil demand growth in 2024, aided by expected healthy economic and manufacturing activity, growing domestic demand for petrochemical products, and robust driving activity and air transportation.
Highlighting how strong air transportation demand in China is in recent times, a report by China’s Civil Aviation Authority recently noted that passenger turnover on domestic routes jumped by 147%, year-on-year (y-o-y), in December 2023, while international routes recorded an astounding 905% y-o-y increase in terms of passenger kilometres travelled.
Looking at medium-term oil demand, according to the 2023 OPEC World Oil Outlook (WOO), the country with the largest incremental oil demand growth from 2022 to 2030 is projected to be China, at around 3 million barrels per day (mb/d), reaching a level of around 18 mb/d in 2030.
Overall, we see global oil demand rising to 116 mb/d by 2045, requiring industry investments totaling $14 trillion to 2045, or around $610 billion on average per year.
In this regard, we need a long-term stable investment-friendly climate, one that works for producers and consumers, and this stability is something that OPEC and its partners in the Declaration and Cooperation will continue to push for.
Your Excellency, at every step of the way, OPEC and its Member Countries will be there to provide the affordable energy that China will need to meet its rising energy demand, with our interconnectedness in the sphere of energy underlining the strength of our relationship.
On this note, and without further ado, I would like to pass the floor to His Excellency, Administrator Zhang.
Thank you.