CNPC USA

From May 5 to 8, 2025, the 56th Offshore Technology Conference and Exhibition (OTC 2025) was held in Houston, Texas, USA. Under the theme “Waves of Innovation >> Offshore Energy Excellence,” the conference focused on cutting-edge technologies and future developments in the marine energy sector.

OTC is the world’s most influential professional exhibition and technical exchange platform for offshore oil, gas, and new energy. Since its inception in 1969, it has been held annually in Houston, attracting extensive participation from global government agencies, energy companies, research institutions, and universities. The conference covers the entire industry chain, from oil and gas exploration, development, and transportation to environmental protection, intelligent operations, and green energy integration.

The 2025 exhibition featured over 1,300 exhibitors showcasing advanced technologies and integrated solutions, including traditional oil and gas equipment, floating wind power systems, augmented reality (AR) interaction platforms, and digital control centers. OTC serves not only as a platform for companies to promote new products and technologies but also as a vital hub for global energy professionals to explore industry trends, expand business collaborations, and foster international partnerships.

OTC 2025 sent a clear and profound signal to the global energy industry: traditional oil and gas will remain the backbone of energy supply for the next five to ten years, but technological innovation is rapidly becoming the decisive force in reshaping the industry landscape. AI, low-carbon energy solutions, and multi-energy integrated systems are driving the industry from a singular focus on efficiency to systemic restructuring and platform-based development.

Amid the complex international political and economic environment, trade policies prioritizing “security first,” led by the United States, are redefining global supply chains. A new wave of tariffs and regulatory changes is pushing manufacturing toward localization, modularization, and digitization. This trend poses higher demands on Chinese companies, which must possess robust technological substitution capabilities and flexible geopolitical strategies to maintain supply chain resilience and strategic initiative in an uncertain environment. Occidental Petroleum President Vicki Hollub noted at the opening ceremony that the Trump administration’s support provides long-term certainty for the industry, but companies must address cost fluctuations from tariffs through localized manufacturing and digital procurement.

Geothermal energy’s role was redefined at this year’s conference, evolving rapidly from a “niche clean energy” to a “stable baseload energy.” Its 24/7 power generation capability positions it as a key player in industrial decarbonization. Leveraging the oil and gas industry’s expertise in drilling and wellbore technologies, combined with tech companies’ strengths in data and intelligent control, a “Geothermal 2.0 revolution” is poised to emerge.

Deepwater oil and gas development also reached a technological tipping point. Chevron’s Anchor project marked the industry’s entry into the 20,000 psi ultra-high-pressure era, achieving synergy in technology, cost, and carbon emissions control. This provides a practical case study and strategic reference for Chinese companies pursuing a “follow-and-innovate” development path.

Meanwhile, intelligent systems are transitioning from “support tools” to “core productivity drivers.” The widespread adoption of products like Leucipa™ and AutoProfiler™ indicates that future oil and gas competition will hinge on the integrated capabilities of materials, equipment, software, and platforms. Chinese oil and gas companies urgently need to balance self-reliance with open cooperation, promoting intelligent system deployment across the entire industry chain. The industry’s growing demands for energy and computational efficiency in hardware require accelerated optimization of software-hardware synergy to reduce energy consumption and operational costs, enabling scalable and cost-effective AI applications.

The consensus at OTC 2025 is clear: the future of energy competition lies in the race for technological evolution and low-carbon system development. Traditional oil and gas companies must simultaneously advance in three strategic areas—deepwater oil and gas development, CCUS commercialization, and intelligent operations—while mitigating geopolitical risks through strategic overseas investments and high-quality international collaborations. This approach will enable a dual achievement of global strategic positioning and green, low-carbon value creation.

CNPC USA Participation and Achievements

CNPC USA recognized the strategic importance of OTC 2025 and organized an 18-member delegation to participate fully in the exhibition, forums, technical sessions, and networking activities. Dr. Zhao Lei from the Materials and Fundamental Research Group was invited to present a paper at the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) session, showcasing CNPC’s research progress in low-cost, corrosion-resistant material alternatives, which received positive feedback from attending experts.

Over the four-day event, the delegation engaged deeply in nearly 100 forums and technical booth interactions, focusing on key topics such as deepwater oil and gas development, carbon management and CCUS, hydrogen and geothermal energy integration, intelligent technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and global supply chain restructuring. They held intensive discussions with technical representatives from leading international companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Petrobras, and TechnipFMC, as well as experts and scholars from renowned institutions such as MIT, Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin, and China University of Petroleum.

Through this participation, the team gained deeper insights into the global energy industry’s evolution from traditional oil and gas to intelligent, efficient, and green systems. They also developed a clear understanding of international companies’ systematic advancements in AI platform implementation, multi-energy collaborative engineering design, extreme-condition operational solutions, and platform repurposing. Leveraging the global platform of OTC, the delegation expanded CNPC’s international technical and R&D network, paving the way for future cooperation, technology introduction, and joint research. A comprehensive participation report, covering five thematic areas and summarizing trend insights and technical case studies, has been compiled to support the CNPC Group in assessing international development trends, optimizing technical strategies, and expanding overseas collaborations.

During the conference, representatives from ResFrac, KeyDrill, CNPC Baoji Oilfield Machinery Co., Ltd., China University of Petroleum (Beijing), China University of Petroleum (East China), and the China Petroleum & Petrochemical Equipment Association visited the CNPC Houston Technology Research Center for on-site exchanges. Discussions covered intelligent drilling, measurement-while-drilling, deep-well equipment, educational cooperation, and talent development, highlighting CNPC’s open and collaborative approach as an overseas R&D platform. These interactions laid a strong foundation for future technical R&D, platform co-construction, and talent exchange between Chinese and international companies and universities.