On November 15, the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP) was formally signed. The 15 member states span across the two continents of the northern and southern hemispheres, covering resource endowment countries and technology endowment countries, and their economies, population and total trade account for one-third of the world. The signing of RCEP has not only boosted confidence in regional trade liberalization and globalization, but also has a very important significance for the development of China's energy market.
RCEP countries form complementary
From the perspective of energy production and consumption in various countries, the ten ASEAN countries are resource endowment countries. The "BP World Energy Statistics Yearbook 2019" shows that the production of fossil energy in ASEAN countries exceeds the consumption, and Indonesia is more abundant in coal and natural gas resources. ASEAN also has abundant clean and renewable energy such as biomass energy, hydropower, solar energy, etc. However, due to technological limitations, clean energy needs to be developed.
But what is worth looking forward to is that with the development of China's environmental strategy, clean energy substitution continues to grow. In 2018, the proportion of consumption reached 22.1%, and it became the world's largest country with installed hydropower, wind power, and solar power.
A new round of trade cooperation in the energy sector has opened up a new energy path for my country. RCEP will also have many positive effects on my country's energy system.
Optimize my country's energy structure
In recent years, the slowdown in my country's economic growth has been affected by de-globalization, and more importantly, the quality of my country's own economic development is not high. This is reflected in the overcapacity of traditional energy sources and the transition and upgrading of clean energy in the energy industry.
The implementation of the RCEP strategy can optimize my country's energy structure. On the one hand, energy transfer is a major means to resolve overcapacity. Transferring my country's surplus industries to some underdeveloped and undersaturated countries in ASEAN can achieve the goal of reducing overcapacity. On the other hand, use more clean and green energy to accelerate the energy transition. my country is short of natural gas resources and needs to import at least 21 million tons of natural gas from Australia every year. With the advancement of RCEP, natural gas imports are expected to increase and the cycle will be further lengthened.
Similar to the ten ASEAN countries, my country is rich in clean and renewable energy, but the level of technological development needs to be improved urgently. The establishment of RCEP partnership can promote the improvement of industrial policies and technical standards, strengthen joint research on key technologies and equipment, and create opportunities for my country to develop clean and green energy such as hydropower and wind power.
Enhancing the resilience of my country's energy system
The resilience of the energy system is reflected in the ability to resist risks. In recent years, under the influence of anti-globalization, my country's energy system has been threatened. Energy supply channels are relatively simple. For example, more than 65% of oil imports originate from the Middle East. The dependence on energy imports hinders the long-term sustainable development of my country's energy market. RCEP enables my country to reduce its dependence on the U.S., Europe, and Middle East markets, promote diversification of energy supply channels, diversification of imported products, improve energy substitution, and increase the ability to resist risks.
Challenges still exist for energy companies to "go global"
In the future, my country's energy companies should firmly seize the opportunity of RCEP strategic cooperation, use high-quality clean energy, continue to develop advantageous industries, build China's unique international energy brand, and increase global market share. By "bringing in" and "learning by doing", we will make up for technical shortcomings and promote my country's energy companies to "go global."