Key drivers

Key drivers

The overseas activities of Chinese energy companies are spurred mainly by the quest for markets, technologies and support for China’s energy security. Given China’s slower economic growth and domestic overcapacity, the government encourages state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to become more profit-oriented. The government’s industrial upgrading strategy and the push for value chain enhancement stimulate the search for new technologies, and rising oil and gas dependency incites diversification of energy resource access. Drivers vary by region, however: while oil security is the main incentive for energy investment in North America, coal and gas resources are the focus in the Asia-Pacific region. The quest for new technologies and markets, mostly in non-fossil energy, motivates activities in Europe. In emerging Asia, activities are prompted mostly by business opportunities under the BRI, and in some cases by energy security.

Figure 6. Chinese government and companies’ overseas energy activity drivers

Markets

Profit goal

Source: IEA. All rights reserved.

Business opportunities and energy security drive the construction service, equipment supply, and investment activities of Chinese companies in non-OECD Asia.