China's oil, gas output hits record highs

China's domestic oil and gas production reached historic highs in 2025, providing a robust bedrock for national energy security as the country accelerates the construction of a resilient energy system to navigate escalating global market uncertainties and geopolitical turbulence.

An oil and gas exploration and development report, recently released by the National Energy Administration, revealed that domestic crude oil production surged to a record 216 million metric tons last year. Meanwhile, natural gas output maintained its robust momentum, expanding by over 10 billion cubic meters for the ninth consecutive year.

Combined, total oil and gas production equivalent soared to a new high of 420 million tons, significantly enhancing the nation's self-sufficiency and ushering the industry into a new phase of high-efficiency and green development, it said.

Industry experts believe the milestone marks the successful culmination of a sweeping seven-year action plan (2019-25) designed to enhance domestic exploration, as the fierce global competition over resources, transit routes and market rights is creating greater uncertainties for energy imports.

China is leveraging the "certainty" of its domestic energy development to counter various external risks and enhance the resilience of its production, supply, storage and sales systems, Wang Hongzhi, head of the NEA, said recently.

Building on the momentum of a record-breaking 2025, the sector has seen a robust start to 2026. Cao Jianjun, chief expert at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute, believes that the continuous growth of domestic supplies serves as the ultimate insulator against external volatility.

"As uncertainty becomes the new normal, we must counter external instabilities with our own internal certainty," Cao said.

This resilience is further underpinned by a strategic petroleum reserve estimated at approximately 1.4 billion barrels, or 190 million tons, according to figures by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

Advancements in exploration and production technology have played a central role in this self-sufficiency. Sustained investments by the country's three major energy giants — China National Petroleum Corp, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, and China National Offshore Oil Corp — have led to significant discoveries across traditional and unconventional fields, said Lu Ruquan, head of the CNPC Economics and Technology Research Institute.

These efforts successfully reduced China's dependence on crude oil imports to 71.9 percent in 2024, demonstrating remarkable industry resilience, Lu added.

The NEA report also highlighted breakthroughs in unconventional resources. In 2025, shale oil output exceeded 8.5 million tons — more than 10 times the level in 2018 — while unconventional natural gas production climbed 7.7 percent year-on-year to over 110 billion cubic meters.

Furthermore, the oil and gas sector added over 9 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity last year, reflecting the government's call to double down on renewable expansion while ensuring fossil fuels serve as a reliable regulatory "baseline" for energy substitution.

To support this balanced transition, China aims to bring non-fossil fuels to 25 percent of total energy consumption by 2030, supported by a comprehensive national energy production capacity.

Looking ahead, the industry is rolling out a new strategic action plan for 2026.

The NEA expects domestic crude oil output to firmly remain above the 200-million-ton threshold, while deepening the integration of artificial intelligence, green energy and the large-scale application of carbon capture, utilization and storage to empower China's continued rise as a global energy powerhouse.