Crude Oil and Natural Gas
Petroleum is an oily flammable bituminous liquid that may vary from almost colorless to black, occurs in many places in the upper strata of the earth, is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons with small amounts of other substances. In a broad sense, natural gas refers to all gases existing in nature. In a narrow sense, natural gas as mentioned today only refers to various natural gases existing in the upper crust, including hydrocarbon gases and non-hydrocarbon gases.
In terms of chemical composition, both oil and natural gas are hydrocarbons. The length of the molecular structure, however, determines the difference in chemical properties. The major component in natural gas is methane and there are also small amounts of ethane. As a mixture of various hydrocarbons, oil can produce various carbon chains with different lengths and various substances such as methane, gasoline, diesel during the refining and cracking process. Asphalt, a byproduct, will also be generated.
The international oil prices will be relatively low before 2020, but they will generally go through a low to high trend
According to calculation results from the international oil price forecast model in CNPC Economics & Technology Research Institute, the international oil prices will be at a relatively low level during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. It will be hard for the prices to return to the level of over $100/barrel and the prices will be in the range of $40-90/barrel. The prices will be lingering at a low level at first. With the impact of low oil price on investments in high-cost projects, the slowdown in supply growth, the low prices’ stimulation to demand, the adequate supply situation will reverse and the international oil prices will stabilize and rebound. It will reach around $90/barrel by 2020.
The Asian market will become a focus for oil-producing countries to win over
The oil demand in Asia will still grow rapidly. China is a major force to drive for the world’s oil demand growth and its position in the global demand will become all the more important. Given the overall adequate supply in the world and US’ lower dependence on imports (even turning to oil exports), more and more oil-producing countries have to turn their eyes to Asia. The shift of the world oil trade focus to the east is therefore accelerated. To fight for market shares, competition between traditional oil-producing countries and between OPEC countries and non-OPEC countries will be aggravated.
