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China has opened up oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) activities on its territory to private companies and foreign groups with net assets of at least CNY300m (US$43m) as of May 2020. Mining permits will be awarded for 5 years through tenders and competitive bidding and may be extended for another 5 years, pending a 25% reduction of the approved area; this measure is aimed at forcing state oil and gas companies, which control most of the prospective zones, to cede some acreage. Previously, international companies were required to enter into partnerships with a Chinese company to conduct E&P operations in China. This market opening is expected to attract investors and to boost domestic oil and gas production.

China is a major oil producer, with about 194 Mt in 2018. Oil production increased by an average of 2%/year between 2000 and 2015. Since then, it dropped by 2.5%. Most of the production is onshore (90%) and located in the fields close to the north-eastern coast (Daqing and Shenghi). Offshore production is in full development, with the basin of Bohai (where CNOOC, PetroChina, Kerr-McGee, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Texaco and Shell operate) being one of the most active areas. However, China currently imports around 70% of the crude oil it refines and almost 50% of its gas demand and it aims to boost its domestic oil and gas production to reduce its import dependency.

The Renewable Energy Project Development Office (REPDO) of Saudi Arabia has launched the third round of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), issuing the request for qualifications (RFQ) for four solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 1.2 GW. The solar project includes the 700 MW Ar Rass, 300 MW Saad, 120 MW Wadi Al Dawaser and 80 MW Layla solar PV projects.

The government of India has promulgated the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 that aims at attracting investors in the coal mining sector by removing restriction on end-use and prior experience in coal auctions. The objective is to foster investment in coal mining, and to reduce imports, which reached INR1,710bn (US$24bn) over the last fiscal year. …

The government of Mexico has decided not to relaunch upstream oil and gas auctions in 2020, considering that the three previous auction rounds had failed to attract investment and to raise production; only 29 of the 111 contracts awarded would be producing.

According to the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO)of Thailand, energy consumption in Thailand rose by 0.9% in 2019, with a 1.6% increase in oil demand (+3.9% for gasoline and +4.3% for diesel), a 1.9% rise in gas use spurred by the power sector demand, and a 3.8% growth in electricity consumption (hot weather). Peak electricity demand increased by 8.7% to 37,312 MW on 3 May 2019. …

According Uruguay’s state-owned power utility UTE, Uruguay produced 14 TWh of electricity in 2019, with 98% from renewable sources: 55.6% of the power generation came from hydropower, 33.6% from wind, 6% from biomass and 2.8% from solar PV (only 2% from thermal).

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom is implementing rolling load-shedding again, due to breakdowns affecting 25% of its installed power capacity (around 14 GW unavailable); the failure of a conveyor belt supplying coal to the Medupi suspended power generation at the giant power complex.

The government of Bulgaria is considering acquiring a 20% stake in Gastrade, a subsidiary of the Greek energy company Copelouzos, which is developing the Alexandroupolis LNG import terminal project in northern Greece, in order to diversify its gas supply, as the country currently imports nearly all its gas consumption from Russia.