China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Ltd has entered the offshore wind sector with recent involvement in a project offshore East China’s Jiangsu province.
The Chinese company unveiled it entered the project this month, however, details on the size or scope of the development have not been disclosed.
Offshore wind aligns with CNOOC’s business due to its resources in offshore engineering and experience in offshore operations which can be directly applied in the sector, the local media reported Yuan Guangyu, the company’s CEO, as saying.
The company’s involvement is said to be consistent with China’s broader strategy of reducing carbon emissions and investing into new technologies.
According to Wood Mackenzie, this could be the first foray for CNOOC to become a more integrated energy company, although any such moves are expected to be limited in the near term.
The Jiangsu Province recently approved 24 offshore wind projects with a total capacity of 6.7GW and the total investment of some CNY 122.29 billion (circa USD 18 billion). The approved offshore wind farms are expected to be completed by the end of 2020.