An employee fills up a vehicle at a gas station in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. [Photo by Jia Minjie/for China Daily]

China is capable of ensuring adequate domestic energy supplies despite rising energy prices and global security concerns, analysts and industry executives said on Wednesday.

Global oil and gas demand has been emerging from the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic with a clear rebound. But, oil prices are expected to remain high this year due to geopolitical tensions.

Yet, China is capable of meeting its domestic oil and gas demand as the country has been stepping up domestic oil and gas exploration in recent years, said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

Major Chinese oil and gas players have been intensifying exploration investments over the past few years. China has also made several major breakthroughs in both conventional oilfields and unconventional oil and gas sectors, he said.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a ban on all imports of Russian oil, gas and energy to the United States, while the United Kingdom is to phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022. The European Union aims to slash Russian gas imports by two-thirds this year as part of its plans to cut its dependence on Russian gas imports.

As a result, oil prices jumped to record highs with WTI crude oil popping as much as 7 percent to trade above $128 per barrel on Tuesday and Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, jumping 7.7 percent to $132.75.

“The European Union’s plan to cut import needs from Russia by two-thirds this year has sent shock waves across the globe. To fill the void of around 100 bcm, the EU needs to grab much more spot liquefied natural gas than before, which inevitably leads to high prices and limited spot supply for other regions,” said Li Ziyue, an analyst with BloombergNEF.

“China needs to plan accordingly to source enough LNG to meet domestic gas demand. Expensive spot LNG may also curb Chinese buyers’ appetite for the fuel,” she said.

China National Petroleum Corp said on Tuesday that the company will come up with advanced and thorough planning in the face of the current situation of the global energy market. It vowed to step up natural gas production capacity construction, including gas storage tanks, to further optimize allocation of resources.

Ensuring adequate supplies of natural gas in the days to come will likely prove not only complex but also challenging, and the company should further strengthen international cooperation and allocate resources according to the changing market situation, in order to ensure a steady gas supply, said Hou Qijun, vice-president of CNPC, during a meeting on Tuesday.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, the world’s largest refiner by volume, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabian Oil Company, which is widely known as Aramco, on Tuesday for potential downstream collaboration in China.

The two sides will also support Fujian Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd in conducting a feasibility study into the optimization and expansion of capacity.

Analysts said the cooperation is mutually beneficial in crude trading, refining and engineering services as well as science and technology research and development.

Such collaboration represents a model of energy cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia. The signing of the MoU will support refinery feedstock optimization and downstream petrochemical development, while offering new opportunities to deepen and expand activity amid an accelerating global energy transition, said Yu Baocai, president of Sinopec.

China’s National Energy Administration said the country will ensure energy security this year by boosting coal supply capacity, stepping up oil and gas exploration and oil and gas storage capacity construction.

Meanwhile, China will also accelerate solar and wind power generation capacity construction in the Gobi Desert and other arid regions amid efforts to boost renewable power consumption, while coming up with more peaking power sources, including pumped storage, to ensure efficient and effective power generation, said Zhang Jianhua, head of the administration.