The prospects of China-Arab oil and gas cooperation are promising-China and Arab countries are the largest oil and gas trading partners

The prospects of China-Arab oil and gas cooperation are promising 

SHPGX introduction: Arab countries have abundant oil and gas resources and huge oil and gas production, and are the most important force in the international energy market. Before achieving carbon peak by 2030, China’s energy consumption will still maintain a certain growth, and the import of energy such as oil, natural gas and coal will still maintain a considerable scale. China will still provide a huge and stable energy export market for energy resource exporting countries, including the Arab world, and Arab countries will continue to share the opportunities of energy trade and many other opportunities brought by China’s economic development.

Arab countries have abundant oil and gas resources and huge oil and gas production, and are the most important force in the international energy market.

According to the data of the World Energy Statistics Review 2023, as of 2020, Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil resource country in the world, only behind Venezuela, with remaining proven oil reserves of 297 billion barrels, accounting for more than 17% of the global share. Excluding Saudi Arabia, the Arab countries in the Middle East, plus Libya and Algeria in North Africa, have a total oil production of more than 17 million barrels per day, and a total oil export of about 16 million barrels per day, making them one of the regions with the largest oil production and export in the world. In addition to rich oil resources, the Arab world has abundant natural gas resources. Qatar alone has remaining proven natural gas reserves of 24.7 trillion cubic meters, accounting for more than 13% of the world. For a considerable period of time in the future, the decisive influence of Arab countries on the international oil and gas market will continue and may increase.

Before achieving carbon peak by 2030, China’s energy consumption will still maintain a certain growth, and the import of energy such as oil, natural gas and coal will still maintain a considerable scale. China will still provide a huge and stable energy export market for energy resource exporting countries, including the Arab world, and Arab countries will Oil and Gascontinue to share the opportunities of energy trade and many other opportunities brought by China’s economic development.

01 China and Arab countries are the largest oil and gas trading partners

As the world’s largest oil and gas importer, Arab countries are the main source of China’s oil and gas imports, and China has become the largest oil and gas export destination for Arab countries.

In 2022, China imported 508 million tons of crude oil, and among the top ten source countries, five were Arab countries. Among them, Saudi Arabia ranked first, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Oman ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively, and Kuwait ranked seventh. In addition to the above five countries, Qatar ranked 12th and Libya ranked 17th. In 2022, China imported 230 million tons of crude oil from the above seven Arab countries, accounting for 45.27% of China’s total crude oil imports in that year. Arab countries have become the main source of China’s crude oil imports. Among them, Saudi Arabia has been China’s largest source of crude oil imports for many years. In 2022, China imported 15.6957 million tons of LNG from Qatar, ranking second, accounting for 24.37% of China’s total LNG imports in that year, close to 1/4, a year-on-year increase of 74.83%.

Arab countries are the main source of China’s oil and gas imports. From another perspective, China is also the main destination of oil and gas exports from Arab countries. For many years, about 1/4 of Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports have been stably exported to China. China is Saudi Arabia’s largest crude oil export destination. For a long time, about 10% of Qatar’s LNG exports have been exported to China, and China is one of Qatar’s four major LNG export destinations.