New Delhi: China's largest oil and gas producer has sought closer working ties with India across oil and gas, new energy and low-carbon development. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) chairman Dai Houliang put that to Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at a meeting in New Delhi on September 11, an account of which Chinese state media carried on Monday.
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Puri framed the two countries as sharing a stake in a steady market. "India and China are among the world's largest energy consumers and importers, with significant shared interests in energy market stability. Our energy needs will shape the future of global oil demand," he said after the meeting.
China is the world's largest importer of crude oil, and India ranks third, behind the United States. What the two buy, and on what terms, moves the market that sells to them.
Dai built his case on ground the two governments have already covered. The leaders of China and India have met on several occasions in recent years, he said, and reached an important consensus on viewing each other as partners and as development opportunities. That consensus had set the direction for bilateral relations and laid a solid foundation for deeper practical cooperation in the energy sector, he added.
From there he moved to specifics. CNPC was willing to work with the Indian side to implement the consensus reached by the two countries' leaders, Dai said, and to "strengthen communication and coordination, and explore more opportunities for cooperation in oil and gas, new energy, and green and low-carbon development," state-run Global Times quoted him as saying.
He also took the argument beyond the bilateral. The two sides could "work together to increase their voice and influence in global energy governance," Dai said, and contribute to the stability and sustainable development of the global energy market.
Officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas attended the meeting, along with executives from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation and other oil and gas PSUs.
The meeting came at a point of acute supply disruption. Three days earlier, on September 8, Houthi forces struck oil and industrial facilities across southern Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones, wounding 73 people. Operations were temporarily suspended at several sites, among them the Jazan refinery, which processes 400,000 barrels a day. Those strikes landed on top of the Iran war, which has all but halted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a channel that normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil.
Puri addressed the disruption directly. "The situation of war persists in West Asia, and the world is still grappling with major supply challenges for petroleum and natural gas," he said.
Puri and Dai met a day before the 18th BRICS summit opened at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 12. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the summit's opening day, covering border stability, trade imbalances, market access and transport links.
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Energy ran through the summit's outcome document as well. The leaders adopted a joint declaration recognising energy security as an important foundation for social and economic development, national security and the well-being of all countries. The declaration called for ensuring the smooth flow of global trade, supply chains and energy in accordance with relevant international law, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.