Nowadays, people's understanding of the traditional energy national conditions of "abundant coal, scarce oil and limited gas" is changing. For the energy planning during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it is suggested that unconventional oil and gas and renewable clean energy be placed in a more prominent position, and efforts should be made to achieve substantive progress in enhancing domestic energy security capacity. Jiang Daming, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the former minister of Land and Resources, suggested.

Recent data shows that China's energy self-sufficiency rate was less than 80% in 2019, a decrease of about 5 percentage points compared with the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan. In particular, the dependence on foreign crude oil was as high as 72.6%, and the dependence on foreign natural gas rose rapidly to 43%.

The excessively high degree of dependence on foreign sources poses a more severe challenge to China's energy security under the current international situation. For this reason, in terms of energy security, Jiang Daming believes that it is necessary to adhere to relying on the domestic market and making good use of "two markets and two resources", and gradually form a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other.

According to Jiang Daming, for a long time, "abundant coal, scarce oil and gas" has been a true portrayal of China's energy situation. But in recent years, this situation has undergone a series of changes.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China successively discovered several oil fields with an annual output of over 100 million tons and gas fields with an annual output of over 100 billion cubic meters. The proven reserves of unconventional energy sources such as shale gas and coalbed methane increased significantly. Important breakthroughs were made in shale oil exploration. The utilization of renewable clean energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy and geothermal energy ranked among the top in the world in terms of total volume.

Against this backdrop, Jiang Daming believes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China has the foundation and conditions to accelerate the development of unconventional oil and gas and renewable clean energy.

He suggested that in the oil and gas sector, we should adhere to the "dual-wheel" drive of conventional and unconventional oil and gas, and intensify the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas. Promote coordinated development in renewable clean energy and give full play to the advantages of geothermal energy resources. At the same time, we should intensify efforts in scientific and technological research and development to lay a solid foundation for the development of successor energy sources such as combustible ice, hydrogen energy and ocean energy.

Specifically, in terms of oil and gas, although the current degree of geological exploration for unconventional oil and gas is still relatively low, the potential is huge.

Data shows that the geological resources of unconventional natural gas such as shale gas and coalbed methane are approximately 133.8 trillion cubic meters, exceeding those of conventional natural gas by 15 trillion cubic meters. Shale oil accounts for about one third of the conventional oil geological resources. With the continuous breakthroughs in the technology of shale gas exploration and development, the production cost has been decreasing year by year, and the output has shown a rapid growth trend. This year, the US shale revolution has encountered setbacks, but the US government and financial capital have not given up their support for oil enterprises.

Therefore, Jiang Daming suggested that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, one should "forge ahead in the face of difficulties and maintain strategic resolve". Unconventional oil and gas resources will be regarded as a key focus of the national energy strategy, and a national unconventional oil and gas development plan will be formulated. "Efforts will be made to form an energy security pattern within about 10 years, where domestic conventional and unconventional oil and gas each account for half of the market, and conventional, unconventional and imported oil and gas each account for one-third."

In terms of developing renewable and clean energy, Jiang Daming believes that this is the fundamental solution to addressing climate change. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, although the proportion of non-fossil energy in China has been gradually increasing, there is still a deficiency in the development and utilization of geothermal energy.

Given that China is rich in geothermal energy resources and the technology is already mature, he suggested that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, a special plan should be formulated to guide different regions to develop geothermal energy in a scientific and standardized manner based on local conditions. In particular, it is necessary to encourage regions rich in geothermal resources to make the utilization of geothermal energy a mandatory measure for new communities and industrial parks, promote the application of non-intrusive geothermal system heating (cooling) technology, and give full play to the exemplary role of high-quality development and utilization of geothermal energy in Xiongan New Area, the sub-center of Beijing, and Xixian New Area in Shaanxi Province.

In addition, emerging energy sources such as combustible ice (natural gas hydrates), hydrogen energy, and ocean energy are all regarded as future alternative and successor resources. In recent years, China has made many explorations in these areas, and some of them have even gained international leading advantages.

Jiang Daming believes that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, combustible ice and hydrogen energy should be regarded as the key directions of the energy technology revolution. China must leverage its institutional advantages, consolidate its relatively leading position in the exploitation of combustible ice, make up for the technological shortcomings in hydrogen energy development, enhance the exploitation and utilization of ocean energy, build new infrastructure, and create a complete industrial chain to take the initiative in the global energy competition.

He called for the formulation of relevant medium - and long-term plans to promote the commercial exploitation capacity of combustible ice around 2025. Establish a national major project on hydrogen energy and fuel cells, and carry out research and development of core materials, equipment and key components as well as system integration technology. Accelerate the process of marketization and coordinate the in-depth participation of enterprises. Pilot demonstrations for the development and utilization of offshore wind energy, tidal energy, wave energy and tidal current energy have been carried out in Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places to supplement energy for coastal areas and islands and accumulate experience for large-scale commercial development.