China has set a target of raising domestic oil and gas supply to 440 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2030 as Beijing seeks to strengthen energy security while continuing the transition toward lower-carbon energy.
The target is in the 15th Five-Year Plan for Oil and Gas Development, which was released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration. A plan was published by the NDRC on Aug. 17, which referenced the government’s economic and energy plan for the period of 2026-2030.
The plan calls for domestic supply capacity to increase, oil and gas infrastructure to expand and reserves to become more flexible. It also identifies greener production, technological development and diversified international cooperation as part of the sector’s development through 2030.
The announcement comes on the heels of Asian importers focusing more on energy security after disruptions hit energy supplies coming through the Middle East. Approximately 80% of all oil and oil products passing through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025 were heading to Asia, the IEA added in 2026. More than 110 billion cubic meters of LNG also passed through the strait in 2025.
But the Chinese government did not blame the new five-year plan solely on the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. The plan instead frames oil and gas supply as a broader issue of energy security and economic and industrial needs.
Pipeline and LNG Capacity to Expand
China plans to add 20,000 kilometers of long-distance oil and gas pipelines by 2030, bringing the national network to 220,000 kilometers, according to the plan.
The government also aims to raise natural gas storage capacity to more than 13% of national consumption. LNG receiving terminals are targeted to have annual handling capacity of 200 million tonnes, while overland pipeline capacity for natural gas imports is expected to reach 114 billion cubic meters a year.
The targets indicate that China is not relying solely on higher domestic production to improve supply security. Expanding pipelines, storage facilities and LNG infrastructure would give the country additional ways to move and hold gas and to diversify how imported supplies enter the domestic market.
The plan also calls for annual carbon dioxide injection through carbon capture and storage and carbon capture, utilization and storage projects to reach 10 million tonnes by 2030.
Domestic Oil and Gas Production Has Already Reached Records
China enters the new planning period after several years of increased domestic oil and gas production.
The National Energy Administration’s China Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Report 2026 said crude oil output reached 216 million tonnes in 2025, a record high. Natural gas production reached 262.1 billion cubic meters, with annual production increasing by an average of 14.5 billion cubic meters during the seven years through 2025.
The same report said China’s shale oil output exceeded 8.5 million tonnes in 2025, more than 10 times the level recorded in 2018. Shale gas production reached 27.7 billion cubic meters.
The NEA separately said total domestic oil and gas output reached a record 420 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2025. The figure provides the immediate baseline for the new 440 million-tonne target for 2030.
The increase in domestic production has been supported by exploration in deeper formations, offshore fields and unconventional resources. The NEA report said China added 17 oil fields with more than 100 million tonnes of geological reserves and 34 gas fields with more than 100 billion cubic meters of reserves between 2019 and 2025.
Strategic Oil and Gas Bases
The new plan identifies major producing regions including the Ordos, Bohai Bay, Sichuan-Chongqing, Tarim, Songliao and Junggar basins as strategic oil and gas supply bases.
The NEA’s 2026 report said the Ordos Basin became China’s first oil and gas production base with annual output exceeding 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2025. The basin produced about 80 billion cubic meters of natural gas and maintained crude oil output of about 38 million tonnes.
Yang Jun, deputy director of the Oil and Gas Department of the NEA, outlined the dual approach underpinning the plan. “On the one hand, we will continue to intensify exploration and development, boost reserves and production, extend oil and gas pipeline networks, improve peak-shaving capacity, diversify import systems, and continuously enhance the ability to ensure a safe and stable supply of oil and gas,” Yang said in a statement.
“On the other hand, we will advance green and low-carbon development, actively and steadily peak oil consumption, promote the clean and efficient use of natural gas, and accelerate the integrated development of oil and gas with new energy, hydrogen energy, CCUS, and new-type energy storage,” he added.
Xinjiang was China’s largest provincial-level oil and gas producing region in 2025, with output exceeding 66 million tonnes of oil equivalent, according to the same report.
Offshore production is also becoming increasingly important. The NEA said China’s offshore oil and gas output reached about 90 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2025, up 51% from 2018.
Oil Supply Expansion Comes Alongside Demand-Side Changes
China’s strategy is not simply to expand oil and gas consumption.
The oil and gas plan suggests integrated development between the oil and gas sector and renewable energy and invites the development of solar, wind and geothermal resources in the oil and gas fields. It also requires more electrification and green, low-carbon and zero-carbon oil and gas fields.
The rapid expansion of electric and new-energy vehicles is further changing China’s broader energy policy.
China made 16.524 million new-energy vehicles last year, a 25.1% increase from the year before, the National Bureau of Statistics said. At the end of 2025, the number of new-energy vehicles in the country reached 43.97 million. The data also indicated that new-energy vehicles made up over 50% of China’s new passenger-car sales during 2025.
Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Institute for Energy Policy Studies at Xiamen University, framed the shift in terms of strategic payoff. “Before we worried about China’s energy security, but now we know our solution is workable,” Lin said, according to PressReader. “We have renewables, we have electric vehicles, and when oil prices get higher these vehicles become ever more competitive, but without 20 years of investment we wouldn’t have this now.”
Energy Security and the Low-Carbon Transition
The combination of higher oil and gas production, larger import infrastructure and faster electrification reflects two parallel priorities in China’s energy policy.
Oil and gas have continued to play a key role in China’s energy system and industrial economy, especially in transport and petrochemicals and other industrial applications. Beijing is simultaneously promoting renewable energy and electrification to curb the future increase in fossil-fuel consumption.
The July release of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development sets a target for renewable energy consumption of around 1.8 billion tonnes of standard coal equivalent by 2030.
The oil and gas plan therefore does not signal a retreat from China’s broader energy transition. Instead, it sets out a strategy in which domestic hydrocarbons, diversified imports, storage and pipelines provide supply security while renewable energy, electrification and carbon-management technologies increasingly address longer-term emissions and demand pressures.
