Letter from China: PetroChina’s green pivot underwhelms
The Chinese NOC has made deeper commitments to clean energy. But no-one should get too carried away
PetroChina, one of China’s ‘big three’ state-controlled oil and gas firms, has signalled it will ramp up clean energy investment. But its fledgling interest in renewables should not be taken as a sign that China’s top oil and gas producer is ditching fossil fuels any time soon. PetroChina—which made up 52pc of Chinese crude oil output and 60pc of gas production in the first six months of 2020—said at its half-year earnings in late August that it planned to spend up to $740mn/yr on solar and wind power, geothermal and pilot hydrogen projects over the next five years. Expenditure could rise to as much as $1.5bn by the middle of the decade. Such statements of intent have become increasingly com
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